Kiminobu Okumura
Iuemon is left master less after his master, Lord Asano, attempts to kill the treacherous Lord Kira and out of desperation and due to the extreme poverty he now lives in, poisons his wife Oiwa and marries the daughter of one of Lord Kira's men. This comes back, literally, to haunt him.
Based on a novel by Bo Nishimura, the film is about an extramarital affair between the wife of an estate agent and a 22 year old man.
Chizuko and Mika are sisters who get along very well, and have a good relationship, but one day Chizuko dies unexpectedly in an accident. Mika always feels undermined for not living up to her sisters achievements until one day the ghost of her sister appears again. And by the encouragement of Chizuko, she overcomes various difficulties in her life.
At the beginning of the film the father-in-law of the protagonist dies unexpectedly of a heart attack. The remainder of the film is episodic, moving from one incident to another over the course of the three-day funeral, which is held (as is customary) in the home. These incidents contrast old ways and new ways, young and old, ritual ceremony and true feelings, often comically, but sometimes with real poignancy.
Yukio is an ex-farmer working as a dump-truck driver in Kashima. Haunted by the drowning of his two young sons, whose names he has had tattooed on his back in penance, and locked in a sibling rivalry with his traditional but urbane younger brother who lives in Tokyo, Yukio has become an amphetamine-addicted loner at odds with his family, friends and colleagues.
