The Rebirth

The mother of a killer forms a close bond with the father of her child's murdered classmate in director Masahiro Kobayashi's emotionally muted drama. A Tokyo schoolgirl has stabbed one of her classmates to death. As the police question the killer's mother, Noriko (Makiko Watanabe), and the victim's father, Junichi (Kobayashi), each just want to put the incident behind them by relocating and moving as far away from the source of their pain as possible. Widower Junichi eventually moves to Hokkaido, where he begins working manual labor at a factory and living in the nearby dorms. Noriko too has decided to move to Hokkaido, and it's there that the struggling single mother begins cooking and cleaning in the same dorms where Junichi currently resides. Later, Junichi purchases a pair of cell phones and leaves one for the disapproving Noriko. Though she initially rejects the gift, Noriko gradually begins to realize just how much Junichi means to her and soon attempts to repay the grieving father's kindness.