Nobody Knows (2004)
"Dare mo shiranai" (original title)

In a small Tokyo apartment, 12-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and doesn't seem to be coming back.

Director:

Hirokazu Koreeda

Writer:

Hirokazu Koreeda

Stars:

Yûya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura

13 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Yûya Yagira	...	Akira Fukushima
Ayu Kitaura	...	Kyoko
Hiei Kimura	...	Shigeru
Momoko Shimizu	...	Yuki
Hanae Kan	...	Saki
You	...	Keiko, the mother
Kazuyoshi Kushida	...	Yoshinaga, The Landlord
Yukiko Okamoto	...	Eriko Yoshinaga
Sei Hiraizumi	...	Mini-market Manager
Ryo Kase	...	Mini-market Employee
Takako Tate	...	Mini-market teller
Yûichi Kimura	...	Sugihara (Taxi Driver)
Ken'ichi Endô	...	Pachinko Parlor Employee
Susumu Terajima	...	Baseball coach
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shinichi Hashizawa

Storyline

In Tokyo, the reckless single mother Keiko moves to a small apartment with her twelve years old son Akira Fukushima and hidden in the luggage, his siblings Kyoko, Shigeru and Yuki. The children have different fathers and do not have schooling, but they have a happy life with their mother. When Keiko finds a new boyfriend, she leaves the children alone, giving some money to Akira and assigning him to take care of his siblings. When the money finishes, Akira manages to find means to survive with the youngsters without power supply, gas or water at home, and with the landlord asking for the rental.

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Plot Keywords:

apartment | money | landlord | single mother | boy | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements and some sexual references

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp] Official site [sg] (English)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

21 October 2004 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Nobody Knows

Filming Locations:

Haneda International Airport, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$32,393 (USA) (4 February 2005)

Gross:

$683,575 (USA) (24 June 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bandai Visual Company, Cine Qua Non Films, Dare mo Shiranai Seisaku Iinkai

Technical Specs

Runtime:

141 min 141 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed chronologically over almost an entire year.

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Goofs

When Akira buys the stack of chocolates for Yuki near the end of the movie, he buys 19 boxes and the total comes to 1,895 yen. As there was no sales tax at the time Japan, each box would have to be priced at 99.74 yen - which is essentially impossible.

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Quotes

Yuki: No, I'm gonna meet mommy at the station.
Kyoko: She's not coming home today.
Yuki: I'm sure she's coming home today.

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Connections

Referenced in Love Songs (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Houseki"
Sung by Takako Tate

User Reviews

a film with immense humanity

It has been a while since I saw a film with this much humanity. That is, until I saw acclaimed Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda's latest, Nobody Knows, about a quartet of siblings left to fend for themselves.

It's heartbreaking, just thinking about some of these random moments subtly displayed on screen. The look on an adolescent girl's face when her mom paints her nails. A little boy making silly faces in the mirror. A little girl's scribbling of stick people on a gas bill that has been months overdue... I can go on.

I wish I can put into words, or convey in some sort of way, the flowing of rampant emotions experienced when I saw these images: about how much it hit so close to home, how much it reminded me of my own family. But I can't. I guess it simply cannot be articulated in such a concise, simplified manner.

You'll just have to see it for yourself.