Original Title: Daremo Shiranai

Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu

Japan - 2003 - 141m - CLUB

Nobody Knows, the latest work from veteran Hirokazu Kore-eda, transforms a devastating story ripped from the headlines into a tale of unexpected grace and profound feeling. In 1988, four siblings were abandoned by their mother and lived alone for months until a tragedy led to their discovery. These heartbreaking events had tremendous resonance for Kore-eda; he began work on a script soon after and sustained his devotion to telling this story over more than a decade. The result is a film that is deeply stirring and - unpredictably - full of warmth and humanity.

The film's narrative is loosely structured around the passage of four seasons. In the autumn, the flighty and hopelessly romantic Keiko (Japanese music and television star You) moves into a tiny apartment in Tokyo with her children. Each of her two sons and two daughters has a different father and so, concerned with what the neighbours might think, Keiko smuggles the three youngest into the apartment in suitcases and forces them to live a hidden existence.

As the months pass, Keiko begins to disappear periodically and ultimately vanishes for good from the children's lives, leaving them trapped in the claustrophobic apartment with some meagre savings. Akira (Yuya Yagira), the eldest boy, struggles to look after his siblings as the children attempt to adhere to the private rules that have always structured their lives. However, they cannot hide indefinitely: they are soon without power and water and, for the first time in months, are forced to venture out into the city.

Kore-eda worked with his gifted young actors - who frequently improvised their scenes - to render truly affecting characters. Particularly commanding is the extraordinary performance by fourteen-year-old Yagira, who was recognized with the best actor award at this year's Festival de Cannes. As Akira, he inhabits the film with a quiet determination and fortitude far beyond what we would expect from someone so young.

Showing the idyllic elements of the children's isolated world as well as the dire consequences of their abandonment, Kore-eda has created a fragile, beautiful work. - Michèle Maheux, Toronto International Film Festival

Director Biography: Hirokazu Kore-eda was born in Tokyo and graduated from Waseda University. He began his career making documentaries under the auspices of the TV Man Union Inc., an independent television production company. Selected filmography: Maborosi (95), After Life (98), Distance (01) and Nobody Knows (04).

“A satisfying reminder of this director's talent for extending a single moment with superbly poised artistry ... Kore-eda patiently tracks the children's secret existence as un-adult adults, minute by minute, with gentleness and acute observation ... Kore-eda gets miraculously fresh performances from the children and the film is absorbing, humane and deeply moving.” - The Guardian

“A sometimes funny but heartbreaking story of loss and fortitude in a modern and unforgiving urban jungle ... Using prompted improvisation and shooting over a period of a year to allow the young performers to grow, Kore-eda establishes a warm and confident family atmosphere with only the mother's skittishness providing ominous foreboding ... Kore-eda works wonders with the young players ... Yagira shows all the signs of becoming an established actor with naturalness on camera that comes complete with total stillness as well as pleasing animation ...” - The Hollywood Reporter

“Kore-eda has an extraordinary ability to create moving tone poems out of peculiar dramatic situations ... The children here are wandering, curious souls ... The orignal score by Japanese duo Gontiti is gorgeous ... A rare beauty and emotional truthfulness.” - The Daily Telegraph

“In less sensitive hands, the film could easily have been a manipulative melodrama of children in danger, or else a too-cute appreciation of youthful resilience, but Hirokazu Kore-eda directs his dry-eyed young actors with an extraordinary mixture of tenderness and detachment, hovering between the children's point of view and that of a stricken, sympathetic adult ... Your attention never slackens, and at the end you feel both heartbroken and oddly exhilarated.” - New York Times

Winner - Best actor (Yagira Yuya) / Cannes 2004
Winner - Grand Prize (Best Film) / Flanders International Film Festival 2004
Winner - Gold Plaque / Chicago International Film Festival 2004
Japanese entry for Best Foreign Film Academy Award