Language: Japanese
Cast: Ken Ogata, Hana Sugiura, Shota Matsuda
Direction: Eiji Okuda
Music: Sufficient
Reasons to watch: Heart-rendering storyline. Very pragmatic characters. One of the few movies with a socially relevant theme which doesn’t make you critical of the society, nor weary of living in it. But makes you want to understand it and belong to it, and ensure that the horrors of it do not come near you and your people.
Reasons not to: Subtitles 
Storyline: The story starts with the self-imposed exile of a retired high-school headmaster, Matsutaro Yasuda. After the death of his wife, facing the scorn of his daughter, he runs away from his past. He has been ensuring that she is disciplined, whether that comes harmoniously or by force. The neighbors of his new apartment, though, are a scarlet woman and her little daughter, Sachi. She is shown to be wearing cardboard wings that she has from the time she went to kindergarten. Sachi has to not only face violence at home, but has to live between her mother and her savage boyfriend. The child is abused. Yasuda sees this, and tries to help. But Sachi cannot respond to his goodwill. She refuses to trust him at once. After she slowly warms up to him, he takes her away and gives her all the care he denied his own daughter. They go on for a long, long walk. On this journey, they also meet Wataru, a young boy who is himself running away to somewhere. He kills himself free. Faced with the charges of kidnapping little Sachi, Yasuda knows that the police are after him. Will they understand that this is what is good for the old man as well as the little child? Will they protect her from the fate she was born with? Will Yasuda’s daughter forgive him?
Climax Handling: It is all done very carefully. The real point of the movie, and the duality of the situation, and the difficulty you will find in calling Yasuda a hypocrite are all the things that are never forgotten. The angel with the cardboard wings stays safe.
Points: Officer: Everybody could do with a bit of Yasuda. Even Yasuda himself.
Rating: 8.5/10
Comment: It will make you feel grateful. Watch alone when you’re in a medium-deep mood.
