Nobody Knows

(Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2004, Japan, 141 minutes)

Loosely based on a true story where four children lived alone and undetected in a Tokyo apartment for months after their mother abandoned them, Nobody Knows brings us into their home in a way that does not lean into the inherent melodrama nor sensationalism of the story. The children, approximately 12, 10, 7 and 4 years old, try their best to form some approximation of a normal family themselves, with 12-year-old Akira (Yûya Yagira, the youngest-ever Best Actor winner at Cannes) trying to hold everything down. The mother, when she’s around, is played by the pop star You, known these days as one of the commentators on Terrace House.

With introduction and post-film Q&A by Dr. Linda Ehrlich, film scholar.

In Japanese with English subtitles.