Kimi no tori wa utaeru

And Your Bird Can Sing
Sachiko works in a bookstore in a harbour town on Hokkaido, where a perpetually late co-worker named Boku catches her eye. After spending a night in the bunk bed of his minuscule apartment, Sachiko also meets Boku’s unemployed roommate Shizuo. “As we get older, do we also lose our youth?” she wants to know. Kimi no tori wa utaeru depicts a carefree ménage à trois that unfolds on sultry summer nights, attempting to draw out the desire to live in the moment into infinity, forever and ever. The sense of being adrift – by turns exuberant and melancholic – sets the pace. Nights are for clubbing, karaoke, billiards and the next morning, the three wake up beside each other once again. But what sort of life is this? How long can emotions float freely? Do these three need a greater sense of commitment to keep developing? These questions hang over the dancing trio, and each must find their own answers to them. The film observes young people as they gradually begin to look at themselves. The camera captures their faces and emotional responses in close-up, then takes a big step back – as more and more perspectives continue to appear on the horizon.
by Sho Miyake
with Tasuku Emoto, Shizuka Ishibashi, Shota Sometani, Masato Hagiwara, Makiko Watanabe, Tomomitsu Adachi, Ai Yamamoto, Takaya Shibata, OMSB, Hi'Spec
Japan 2018 Japanese 106’ Colour

With

  • Tasuku Emoto (Me)
  • Shizuka Ishibashi (Sachiko)
  • Shota Sometani (Shizuo)
  • Masato Hagiwara (Shimada)
  • Makiko Watanabe (Naoko)
  • Tomomitsu Adachi (Moriguchi)
  • Ai Yamamoto (Mizuki)
  • Takaya Shibata (Hasegawa)
  • OMSB (MC)
  • Hi'Spec (DJ)

Crew

Written and Directed by Sho Miyake
Cinematography Hidetoshi Shinomiya
Editing Sho Miyake
Music Hi'Spec
Sound Design Takamitsu Kawai
Sound Takamitsu Kawai
Production Design Shinpei Inoue
Costumes Noriko Ishihara
Make-Up Sao Ishikawa
Producers Kazuhiro Sugawara Cinema Iris, Hiroshi Matsui Pigdom

Produced by

Cinema Iris

Pigdom

Shô Miyake

Shô Miyake was born in 1984, in Hokkaido. He graduated from Hitotsubashi University’s Faculty of Sociology, and completed the elementary course in fiction at the Film School of Tokyo. His film Small, Slow But Steady (2022) was officially entered in the Encounters section of the 72nd Berlinale. At the 77th Mainichi Film Awards it won the Japanese Film Grand Prize, the Best Director Award and five other prizes.

Filmography

2008 Spy no shita (Tongue of Spy); 2010 Yakutatazu (Good for Nothing); 2012 Playback 2014 The Cockpit; documentary 2017 Misshi to bannin 2018 Kimi no tori wa utaeru (And Your Bird Can Sing) 2019 Wairudo tsuâ (Wild Tour) 2020 Ju-on: Origins; series, 6 episodes 2022 Keiko, me wo sumasete (Small, Slow But Steady) 2024 Yoake no subete (All the Long Nights)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2024