Marital life is uneventful for Toshio (Kanji Furutachi) and Akie (Mariko Tsutsui). Each day goes by as if according to a well-known script. Toshio runs a machinery workshop out of his house, and the only time he spends with his wife and young daughter is when the family sits together almost wordlessly around the dining table. They go on this way, seemingly content to live as strangers to one another, until one day when, in front of Toshio’s shop, there appears a clean-faced man in a white shirt. It’s Yasaka (Tadanobu Asano), an old friend of Toshio’s who has just been released from prison. His gentle manners cannot conceal his disquieting presence; he is clearly a harbinger of dark times. This is a fascinating work that displays a deep moral complexity.
Find out what we had to say about Harmonium in our May film podcast. Skip to the 7.49 mark!