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JAPAN | 137 minutes | 2019

Toichi, a kindly and helpful old man, earns a modest living by ferrying the villagers back and forth across the water. His life flows placidly by until the day he encounters a young girl with a shady past. Japanese actor Joe Odagiri presents his first feature, an ode to devotion and austerity. It’s a refreshingly candid work that maximizes the impact of its breathtaking settings, thanks in no small part to the keen eye of legendary DOP Christopher Doyle, whose credits include dozens of well-known Asian productions.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

With the support of the Japan Foundation Toronto

With its languid pace, sumptuous visuals and mournful depiction of a traditional way of life on the verge of extinction, this period drama harks back not just to an earlier Japan, but to an earlier era of Japanese filmmaking." Japan Times
"They Say Nothing Stays the Same stands as a strong, pensive debut. Christopher Doyle’s impeccable, classical lensing fits thematically, with its lack of flash, giving the film a suitable timeless aura." ICS Films

Venice Days - Venice Film Festival

Programs

Sunday October 13, 2019

Program #107
20:50
Cineplex Odeon Quartier SALLE 17

Saturday October 19, 2019

Program #231
20:45
Cinéma du Parc 3

Joe Odagiri

No biography

2009 Looking for the Cherry Blossoms (middle-length film)
2019 They Say Nothing Stays the Same

distribution and credits

  • Screenplay Joe Odagiri
  • Producer Shozo Ichiyama, Takuro Nagai, Yusaku Nakajima
  • Cast Akira Emoto, Ririka Kawashima, Nijiro Murakami

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