"If I had one wish it would be for every family film to be this beautiful."
Tara Judah, Watershed Cinema Producer

Moving, sometimes heartbreakingly sad, and often mysterious, this deeply considered, delicate family drama tells the complex story of two young boys dreaming of reunion following their parents' separation.

A schism has formed in the Osako family: the wife has left her feckless husband and moved to stay with her elderly parents in Kagoshima, together with her elder son, the 12-year-old Koichi, while the husband, who is trying to revive his career as an indie rocker, lives in Fukuoka with their younger son Ryu. The parents haven’t spoken in months, but the boys call each other from school every day. Koichi wants more than anything to reunite the family, but Ryu dreads returning to the days of angry rows across the dinner table. When Koichi gets it into his head that the first north and south-bound trains on Japan’s new Bullet Train line pass each other at the mid-way-point, a magical energy will be released which will make dreams come true.

Balancing the qualities of a realist fable, underpinned by strong elements of social commentary, with the temperate handling of a fantasy element, I Wish is perhaps the perfect starting point if you are discovering Kore-eda for the first time. A wise and warm coming-of-age tale, and a shining example of why Kore-eda is considered one of the great directors of children and childhood experience.

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