Nobody Knows (2004)

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

Director:

Hirokazu Koreeda

Writer:

Hirokazu Koreeda

Stars:

Yûya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura

13 wins & 10 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
Ryô 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 his siblings Shigeru and Yuki. Kyoko, another sibling arrives later by train. 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 runs out, 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 rent.

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Plot Keywords:

child abandonment | neglect | malnutrition | japan | based on true story | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

The director Hirokazu Koreeda held extensive auditions to cast the four children, and the actors were all nonprofessionals. Also, during the casting, a little girl came in with noisy sandals. The director liked it so much that he brought it over to Yuki's character when searching for her mother. He also did not give the children detailed explanations of their roles, because he wanted them to be natural.

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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

Saki: You washed ya hair?
Akira Fukushima: Yesterday, at the park.

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Connections

References Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002)

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Soundtracks

Houseki
Sung by Takako Tate

User Reviews

every little details we neglected

If your local art theater plays it, go watch it. Find it in DVD store if you can. Rent it through your local mega movie renting store if you have to. Everyone has to watch this movie.

As a highly urbanized country, Japan is subjected to constant social problem, more so than other developed country. Hence, often you will have your Japanese movies that reminds us these problems, Tokyo Godfather, Fireworks, etc.

Nobody Knows is one of them from another angle.

Its director likes to use close up on little details like finger nails, shoes, t-shirt collar to tell the audience what kind of situation it is for the victims in the movie. Often we neglect these little details; often we neglect the unfortunate people around us.

Once in a while we have a world disaster, we all jumped in, we all gave our helping hands, we all praised greatly how much help we gave on TV. Comparing and contrast the figures of aids given with other countries, even. Little things, little unfortunate things happened around us, everyday, everywhere, they are all nicely tucked under our lavish mat and those story never told, those needed aid never arrived. Because they have no news value or because helping a few people doesn't gain enough prestige?

Nobody knows, as the title suggest, We never aware of these problems, by our own choice or not. The movie has an unusual slow pace. There is no climax, everything just get worse. Just the those misfortune people nobody knows, their life are not full of excitement, everyday is another to get by, nothing to wish for, nothing to hope for. Nobody Knows depicts the days of these unsounded misfortune. You could have seen the unfortunate events to come. You would have wished they would not come. One by one they came.

The brilliant part, Nobody Knows lets its audiences decide the ending.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Official site [Singapore] (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 USA:

$32,393, 6 February 2005

Gross USA:

$684,118

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,288,093

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bandai Visual Company, Cine Qua Non Films, Engine Film

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