is a 2015 Japanese

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

directed by

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic and a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Although he has worked in a variety of genres, Kurosawa is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre, his honorific ...

, starring

Tadanobu Asano , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in ''Electric Dragon 80.000 V'', Kakihara in ''Ichi the Killer'', Mamoru Arita in '' Bright Future'', Hattori Genosuke in ''Zatoichi'', Kenj ...

and

Eri Fukatsu is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best actress at the 18th Yokohama Film Festival for '' Haru'' and the best actress award at the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival for her performance in ''Villain''. She also received acclaim for her r ...

. It is adapted from Kazumi Yumoto's novel ''Kishibe no Tabi''. It screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separate ...

, where Kurosawa won the prize for Best Director. It was released in Japan on 1 October 2015.

Plot

Mizuki (

) is a piano teacher who gives lessons to children. Her husband, Yusuke (

), has been missing for three years. He comes back home as a ghost and tells her that he died from drowning in the sea. His body disappeared at sea, eaten by crabs. Since then he has traveled through Japan and made friends with the living and other people "like him". He asks Mizuki to accompany him on a journey. Yusuke shows her the beautiful places he discovered and visit the people who have been kind to him.

Cast

as Yusuke *

as Mizuki *

Masao Komatsu was a Japanese actor and comedian. Biography Komatsu was born in Fukuoka on January 10, 1942. He died of hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) at a hospital in Tokyo on December 7, 2020. He was 78 years old. Selected filmography Films *''K ...

as Shimakage *

Yū Aoi is a Japanese actress and model. She made her film debut as Shiori Tsuda in Shunji Iwai's 2001 film ''All About Lily Chou-Chou''. She subsequently portrayed Tetsuko Arisugawa in ''Hana and Alice'' (2004), also directed by Iwai, Kimiko Tanigawa in ...

as Tomoko *

Akira Emoto is a Japanese actor. Career In 1999, he won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Dr. Akagi''. He also won the award for best supporting actor at the 7th Hochi Film Award for ''Dotonbori River'' and '' Hearts and Flo ...

as Hoshitani

Release

The film screened in the

section at the

on 17 May 2015. It also screened at the

2015 Toronto International Film Festival The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's ''Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naom ...

and the 2015

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it is ...

. It was released in Japan on 1 October 2015.

Reception

On review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 6.21/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". David Rooney of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' gave the film an unfavorable review, saying: "Too much lethargic, unclear plotting and saccharine melodrama mean the gentle film is seldom as intriguing as its premise, even if Kurosawa as always provides arresting visual moments and has a commanding way of building atmosphere out of stillness." Meanwhile, Maggie Lee of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said: "Fans of Kurosawa's earlier psycho-thrillers may desire more eeriness and visual panache, but those who've accepted the helmer's conscious change of tune and pace should be gently touched." Derek Elley of ''

Film Business Asia ''Film Business Asia'' was a film trade magazine based in Hong Kong. The magazine was created in 2010 by Patrick Frater, former journalist for ''Variety'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and '' Screen International'' and Stephen Cremin, co-founder o ...

'' gave the film a 7 out of 10, commenting that Kurosawa "bounces back with a touching, offbeat love story between life and death." ''

Cahiers du cinéma ''Cahiers du Cinéma'' (, ) is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.Itzkoff, Dave (9 February 2009''Cahiers Du Cinéma Will Continue to Publish''The New York TimesMacnab, Ge ...

'' placed the film at number 10 on the "Top 10 Films of 2015" list.

Accolades

References

External links

Official website
(archive) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Journey to the Shore 2015 films 2015 romantic drama films 2010s drama road movies Japanese romantic drama films Japanese ghost films 2010s Japanese-language films Films directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa 2010s Japanese films