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Our House

Forum 2018
Fourteen-year-old Seri lives with her mother in a small town by the ocean, in a house made of wood, with sliding doors, paper walls and tatami straw floors – a house full of history.
Two women meet while leaving a ferry. One seems confused, and declares that she’s lost her memory. All she can remember is her name: Sana. The other woman, Toko, offers Sana a place to stay. The viewer recognises Toko’s house at first glance: It’s the same one where Seri and her mother Kiriko live, albeit furnished slightly differently.
Any attempt to bring together the two stories that are told in parallel from now on falls short. They unfold in tandem, in parallel universes perhaps, separated by boundaries that are nonetheless permeable. Again and again, the inhabitants of the house sense the eerie, ghostlike presence of the others.
The subtle spookiness of the story, heightened by the ethereal music, is occasionally reminiscent of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, with whom the director studied. But she also cites another influence: At the start of the film, a short burst of Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier” is heard. Our House borrows its polyphonic narration from the art of Bach’s fugues.
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by Yui Kiyohara
with Nodoka Kawanishi, Yukiko Yasuno, Mariwo Osawa, Mei Fujiwara, Masanori Kikuzawa, Akane Yoshida, Toshio Furuya, Noa Kitamura, Reina Hirakwa, Takaya Oishi Japan 2017 Japanese 80’ Colour

With

  • Nodoka Kawanishi (Seri)
  • Yukiko Yasuno (Kiriko)
  • Mariwo Osawa (Sana)
  • Mei Fujiwara (Toko)
  • Masanori Kikuzawa (Natsuki)
  • Akane Yoshida (Kotoe)
  • Toshio Furuya (Takashi)
  • Noa Kitamura (Akine)
  • Reina Hirakwa (Momo)
  • Takaya Oishi (Coffee Shop Manager)

Crew

Director Yui Kiyohara
Screenplay Yui Kiyohara, Noriko Kato
Cinematography Ryota Chida
Editing Janybek Kambaraliev
Music Keiichi Sugimoto
Sound Design Yasunobu Ito, Yusuke Miyoshi
Production Design Tamako Kato
Producer Masaru Sano

World sales

Pia Film Festival

http://pff.jp http://pff.jp

Produced by

Masaru Sano

Photos

Yui Kiyohara

Born in Tokyo in 1992. She completed a master’s programme in Directing at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. Our House is her graduation project and her first feature film.

Filmography

2017 Our House; Berlinale Forum, 80 min. 2022 Subete no Yoru wo Omoidasu (Remembering Every Night); 116 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023