15 Films you shouldn’t miss at the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival

By Asian Film Festival on October 21, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )

These are fifteen films you shouldn’t miss at the Tokyo International Film Festival which will take place from October 24 until November 2, 2022.

**A Hundred Flowers** by Kawamura Genki – Japan | 2022 – 104 minutes

Every time my mother loses her memory, I regain my love for her…
A story of love and memory, written and directed by Kawamura Genki and starring Suda Masaki and Harada Mieko, that will inevitably move you to tears. (TIFF 2022)

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**And So I’m at a Loss** by Miura Daisuke – Japan | 2022 – 122 minutes

The story of an ordinary part-timer’s escape from life. Will he end up in heaven or hell? Experience the birth of “escape-from-reality” entertainment! (TIFF 2022)

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**Ashkal** by Youssef Chebbi – Tunisia, France | 2022 – 94 minutes

Bodies are found at a construction site near Tunis, where work was halted due to a pro-democracy movement; two detectives begin investigating. A genre film with political messages by a debut director. (TIFF 2022)

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**By the Window** by Imaizumi Rikiya – Japan | 2022 – 143 minutes

A man discovers his wife is cheating on him, then he is bothered by mixed feelings. A slightly funny adult love story about a man who’s too honest but yet searching for happiness. (TIFF 2022)

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**Don’t Worry Darling** by Olivia Wilde – USA | 2022 – 123 minutes

Olivia Wilde’s second feature film is an extreme utopian thriller in which a happy everyday life is transformed into a world of chaos. Florence Pugh plays the lead role. (TIFF 2022)

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**Glorious Ashes** by Bui Thac Chuyen – Vietnam, France, Singapore | 2022 – 117 minutes

Based on a novel by internationally-known Nguyen Ngoc Tu, the film unveils relationships between three women and their partners in a southern seaside village. Bui Thac Chuyen from Adrift is the director. (TIFF 2022)

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**In Her Room** by Ito Chihiro – Japan | 2022 – 136 minutes

Debut feature by Ito Chihiro based on her own novel, produced by Yukisada Isao. In his first starring role in a film, Iguchi Satoru plays an awkward and sensitive dentist who is troubled by love. (TIFF 2022)

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**Motherhood** by Hiroki Ryuichi – Japan | 2022 – 116 minutes

A film adaptation of the controversial novel by Minato Kanae (“Confessions”). A mother and daughter, played by Toda Erika and Nagano Mei, tell the story of an unsolved case from their own perspectives. (TIFF 2022)

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**Mountain Woman** by Fukunaga Takeshi – Japan | 2022 – 100 minutes

Late 18th century, Tohoku. An outcast girl, Rin lives in a village suffering from famine. She draws strength from Mt. Hayachine, where the spirits of humans ascend after passing. (TIFF 2022)

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**Remember to Breathe** by Sugita Masakazu – Japan | 2022 – 106 minutes

Starring Inoue Mao and Ishida Eri, Sugita Masakazu, whose previous film was acclaimed at the Berlin International Film Festival, depicts a complicated and delicate “mother-daughter relationship”. (TIFF 2022)

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**Sayonara, Girls** by Nakagawa Shun – Japan | 2022 – 120 minutes

Two days until the high school graduation ceremony. Four students bid farewell to youth and move forward with regret and hope in mind. (TIFF 2022)

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**Small, Slow But Steady** by Miyake Sho – Japan | 2022 – 99 minutes

An official selection of the 72nd Berlin Film Festival. Keiko hates to smile and cannot tell a lie. She is deaf and her mind is “full of noise”. By facing boxing, Keiko’s daily life slowly begins to change. (TIFF 2022)

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**The Cord of Life** by Qiao Sixue – China | 2022 – 96 minutes

Alus, an electronic musician, takes in his mother, who is suffering from dementia, and they begin to live together in her steppe homeland. The debut film by Qiao Sixue from Inner Mongolia. (TIFF 2022)

**The Lump in My Heart** by Matsumura Shingo – Japan | 2022 – 93 minutes

The film delicately portrays a young girl who struggles with the sudden discovery of juvenile breast cancer and her complicated relationship with her mother. (TIFF 2022)

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**When the Waves Are Gone** by Lav Diaz – Philippines, France, Denmark, Portugal | 2022 – 188 minutes

Lieutenant Hermes Papauran is a first-hand witness of the murderous anti-drug campaign that his institution is implementing. The atrocities are corroding him physically and spiritually. (TIFF 2022)

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