A forgotten recipe in a childhood book becomes a secret love letter from a stranger.
Shizuru Tamai lives in a small mountain town in rural Japan with her mother and grandmother. Her grandmother is partially unable to move, and Shizuru has to care for her with her mother, who tries to keep Shizuru shackled at every opportunity. Shizuru’s days are filled with endless monotony. She works as a receptionist at her former classmate’s hospital, and one day goes to buy picture books for the waiting room. It’s then that she recalls a book from her childhood ‘The Pierrot Prays to the Moon’. Wanting to read the book again, Shizuru finds it on an online auction site. Once it finally arrives and she begins to read it, a small slip of paper gently falls from its pages. On the paper are what appear to be instructions for a recipe. The recipe prompts Shizuru to contact Tobuse, the man who sent her the book.
Acting
Takako Tokiwa's restrained desperation in every mundane gesture.
Direction
Horiba frames claustrophobia through cluttered domestic spaces.
Director
Shoji Horiba
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The title references 'Pierrot Lunaire,' a 1912 German expressionist song cycle about unrequited love—fitting for a film about women trained to swallow their desires.
Director Horiba based Shizuru's hospital job on his own sister's experience as a rural clinic receptionist, trapped by geography and family debt.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
JP
