Director: Doris Dörrie, black and white, 104 Min., 2016
Cast: Rosalie Thomass, Kaori Momoi, Nami Kamata, Moshe Cohen, Honsho Hayasaka, Nanoko, Aya Irizuki
Marie a young woman from Germany, travels to Japan to escape her broken dreams. She joins the organization Clowns4help who seek to spread a little cheer amongst the victims of the triple catastrophe in Fukushima in 2011 who are still living in makeshift accommodation. Most of the inhabitants are elderly people who were either not able or simply did not want want to move away. But Marie soon realizes that she is not cut out for this task. She is about to take flight once again when she meets the headstrong Satomi, Fukushima’s last geisha, who has decided to move back into her ruined house in the prohibited area. Marie helps Satomi to clear up. The young girl and the older woman not only get to know each other, but both find themselves confronted by the ghost of their respective pasts.
After the sensational success of her film Cherry Blossoms, Dorris Dörrie, who also wrote the screenplay, returns to Japan for this black-and-white drama which tells a peotic and universal tale about letting go and getting onwith one’s life.
Quietly powerful and featuring magnificent images, Greetings From Fukushima brings to life the special relationship between two very different woman, and the ghost-like Fukushima.
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