INTIMATE STRANGER

A Mother’s Search for Her Missing Son Takes a Psychochilling Turn

Venue(s): Uplink Kichijoji
With English subtitles: May 6 (Wed), 2022
Language: Japanese and English with English subtitles
Official website: www.cine.co.jp/shinmitunatanin/
Theater website: joji.uplink.co.jp/movie/2022/13243?fbclid=IwAR32xuRSxyq-KuETgyMl4T84-2fJKt3tCV3HQyJx1Kvj8RHQBnV7BlutwVo
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ochub5ToQQ
Tariff: General: ¥1,900, Youth (19 - 22): ¥1,200, Senior: ¥1,200, Under 19: 1,000, Under 16: ¥800
Advance tickets: Visit theater site for details.

Title: 親密な他人 (Shinmitsuna Tanin)
Director: Mayu Nakamura (中村真夕)
Duration: 96 min

After 15 years spent focusing on social-issues documentaries, indie filmmaker Mayu Nakamura marks a triumphant return to the realm of fiction with Intimate Stranger, a chilling tale of maternal love gone awry and secrets long hidden. The director’s frank comments about Japan’s decidedly misogynist attitude toward actresses of a certain age, and a remarkable starring turn by Asuka Kurosawa have brought the film a great deal of attention in the Japanese press and cinema circles. On March 17 and 21, you’ll have a chance to see it for yourself with English subtitles at Shibuya’s Eurospace.

Intimate Stranger opens with Megumi (Kurosawa) browsing missing persons websites for any news of her own son, Shimpei, who disappeared a year earlier. Somewhere nearby, a young man, Yuji (heartthrob du jour Fuju Kamio), makes a pickup of cash from an elderly woman who’s been the victim of an ore-ore scam. His next target, not surprisingly, is Megumi.

Claiming to know her son’s whereabouts, he jots a message online and she bites. He gives Megumi some personal belongings from Shimpei and hints that he might know more, but loses interest when she can pay only a measly sum for further info. Suspicious of Yuji’s intentions but desperate to learn more, Megumi invites him home for a meal. Soon, the youth is staying with her, a situation that serves them both well, at least for a time.

But as these two lost, guarded souls attempt to extract secrets from one other, a strange bond begins to develop. And then Megumi’s nurturing turns to smothering and the roles of predator and prey seem to flip-flop. Increasingly atmospheric and claustrophobic as it progresses, the film’s air of unreality eventually takes a psycho-chilling turn.

Uplink Kichijoji