All is not what it seems in Kore-eda’s powerful tale of classroom bullying, and the ensuing moral and ethical dilemmas, scored by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto (see Opus: Ryuichi Sakamoto, also screening this month). Minato (Soya Kurokawa), an intense, solitary 10-year-old boy, is being raised by single mother Saori (Sakura Ando), who suspects that he is being bullied by one of his teachers, but her attempts to investigate the matter are met by a wall of obfuscation by the steely-eyed principal, Makiko (Yuko Tanaka), who is herself grieving the death of a grandchild. The cover-up at the school appears to involve Yori (Hinata Hiiragi), Minato’s classmate, a dreamer who often comes to class covered in bruises. Working from someone else’s script for the first time since Maborosi, his debut film, Kore-eda adopts a Rashomon-like approach, replaying scenes from a variety of perspectives, adding new layers of meaning and resonance.

There will be Open Captioned screenings on Wednesday 20th at 18.00 and Thursday 21st at 13.00.

Notes by David O’Mahony