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La Maison de Himoko

 

  Directed by Isshin Inudo

Japan 2005 / Drama / Comedy / Romance / 131 min / Color / Dolby  2.0 / 1.85: 1 Widescreen Anamorphic / NTSC /  In Japanese with Optional  Thai and English Subtitles

Joe Odagiri, Kou Shibasaki , Min Tanaka , Hidetoshi Nishijima, Joe Odagiri.

Saori is a young woman who struggles to make a living from her two rather uninspiring jobs. When the handsome young Haruhiko visits her one day her life is injected with some much needed drama. Haruhiko claims to be the boyfriend of her estranged father, Himiko, who now runs a seaside rest home for elderly gays. Hauhiko makes Saori a financial offer she would be stupid to refuse and agrees to go and work at the home.
When Saori arrives at "Maison de Himiko" she is hostile towards all of the residents, especially her father, who is now bedridden and dying of cancer. He abandoned Saori and her mother years ago, changing his name and effectively disappearing. Can Himiko earn his daughter's love and regain her trust? Or will Saori use her father's weakened condition to exact her revenge on him for leaving them to fend for themselves?

Starring an assuredly competent Ko Shibasaki as Saori, Joe Odagiri as the eternally patient Haruhiko and Min Tanaka as Himiko, Maison de Himiko is a touching, bittersweet tale of acceptance, forgiveness and reconciliation.