''The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)'' is a 2020 fiction film directed by C.W. Winter and Anders Edström. It describes life in a farming village, population 47, in the Shiotani basin in the Japanese prefecture of
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
.
It is the second feature-length collaboration between C.W. Winter and Anders Edström after their 2009 film, ''The Anchorage''.
Plot
The film, which takes its title from
Hesiod's Ancient Greek
farmer's almanac
''Farmers' Almanac'' is an annual American periodical that has been in continuous publication since 1818. Published by Geiger of Lewiston, Maine, the ''Farmers' Almanac'' provides long-range weather forecasting, weather predictions for both the ...
''
Works and Days
''Works and Days'' ( grc, Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι, Érga kaì Hēmérai)The ''Works and Days'' is sometimes called by the Latin translation of the title, ''Opera et Dies''. Common abbreviations are ''WD'' and ''Op''. for ''Opera''. is a ...
'', is presented in five chapters as it examines the daily routine of Tayoko, an elderly woman and farmer who lives in Shiotani. The film follows Tayoko as she cares for and prepares to mourn her husband, Junji, and features excerpts read from Tayoko's real life diaries.
Cast
* Tayoko Shiojiri as Tayoko
* Hiroharu Shikata as Hiroharu
*
Ryo Kase
is a Japanese actor.
Early life
Kase was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture. He moved to Bellevue, Washington in the United States soon after his birth, due to his father's job being transferred.
He's father Yutaka Kase was former chairman a ...
as Ryo Sasaki
* Mai Edström as Mai
* Kaoru Iwahana as Junji
* Jun Tsunoda as Kagawa
*
Masahiro Motoki as NPC
Production
The film was inspired by a series of conversations between Winter, Edström, and Tayoko, who is Edström's real life mother-in-law.
It was shot for a total of 27 weeks, across a 14-month period. At 480 minutes long, it is one of the
longest films ever made.
Release
The film had its world premiere at the 2020
Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Encounters Golden Bear for Best Film. It had its U.S. theatrical release on July 16, 2021 and its French theatrical release on June 22, 2022.
Critical response
The film received critical acclaim. Mark Peranson for
Cinema Scope called the film "an utterly confident, magisterial effort that will stand the test of time."
In La Internacional Cinéfila, Agnès Wildenstein called it, "The best movie of the year. A tremendous cinematic pleasure. And a film that will remain in the history of cinema."
Jordan Cronk, writing for
Artforum
''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...
, described the film as a "comprehensive look at a vanishing way of life...uncommonly poignant and profound."
Writing for
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
, Clarise Fabré called the film "a masterpiece."
In addition to the Berlinale prize, the film won Best Independent/Experimental Film of the Year from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. It also won Best Film prizes at the Punto de Vista and Black Canvas film festivals. The film made dozens of end of the year Ten Best lists.
References
External links
*
The Works and Days' official site
*
The Works and Days' at
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Works and Days, The
2020 films