Jars of fermenting plums are the most enduring image from Hirokazu Koreeda’s intimate family story. When making plum wine, you must puncture the skin of the fruit to release its flavor, and the wine may be sweet or bitter, light or heavy, depending on what ingredients you add and how long the mixture sits. Like this wine, each of the three Koda sisters has grown tart and sweet in her own way. They live in Kamakura, Japan, in a house left to them by their grandmother after the breakup of their parents’ marriage. When a phone call informs them of their father’s passing, they journey to the remote northern town where he spent his last years and confront family history they’ve relegated to a dark corner of their minds as if it were a dusty and forgotten jar. Continue reading >>