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Yuko No Tenbin

A Balance
Panorama 2021
© Eigakobo Harugumi
For Yuko, it’s all about the truth. A documentary filmmaker, she helps out as a teacher at her father’s private tuition school in her spare time. She’s determined not to let the TV station’s editorial staff censor her new project. Her film is going to tell the true story behind the public scandal of a relationship between a student and her teacher that ended in two suicides. But when Yuko learns that her father has also had an affair with a student, the filmmaker tries to do the right thing and has to rethink her own principles.
Yujiro Harumoto finds moving and authentic images for his drama about the balancing act in documentary between cinematic and actual truths which homes in on the question of whether it is right to play one off against the other. Yuko No Tenbin also delivers an atmospheric portrait of a society in which shame and dishonour can have drastic social consequences.
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by Yujiro Harumoto
with Kumi Takiuchi, Ken Mitsuishi, Masahiro Umeda, Yuumi Kawai, Yohta Kawase, Misa Wada, Mitsuko Oka, Yuya Matsuura, Ryo Ikeda, Tomoki Kimura Japan 2020 Japanese 152’ Colour

Part of the Berlinale Summer Special

With

  • Kumi Takiuchi (Yuko)
  • Ken Mitsuishi (Masashi)
  • Masahiro Umeda (Tetsuya)
  • Yuumi Kawai (Mei)
  • Yohta Kawase (Tomiyama)
  • Misa Wada (Shiho)
  • Mitsuko Oka (Toshiko)
  • Yuya Matsuura (Hasebe)
  • Ryo Ikeda (Dr. Kobayashi)
  • Tomoki Kimura (Ikeda)

Crew

Written and Directed by Yujiro Harumoto
Cinematography Kenji Noguchi
Editing Yujiro Harumoto
Sound Design Hiroki Matsuura
Sound Kentaro Oguro
Production Design Naoki Soma
Costumes Kazumi Hoshino
Make-Up Yukari Harada
Casting Takashi Fujimura
Production Manager Satoru Fukazawa
Producers Yujiro Harumoto, Tetsuya Matsushima, Sunao Katabuchi

World Sales

Toei Company

http://toei.co.jp http://toei.co.jp

Produced by

Eigakobo Harugumi

Photos

Berlinale Meets | Interview

Yujiro Harumoto

© Eigakobo Harugumi

Born in Kōbe, Japan in 1978, he studied at the Nihon University College of Art. He gained his first experience in the directing department at Shochiku Kyoto Studio under the aegis of filmmakers such as Akira Inoue and Shigeru Ishihara. He also worked on several historical films and series. His debut feature film, Going the Distance, which he also produced, wrote and edited, screened at festivals including the Tokyo International Film Festival, Camera Japan in the Netherlands and the Seoul International Agape Film Festival and won several awards. Yuko No Tenbin is his second film.

Filmography

2016 Kazoku-e (Going the Distance) 2020 Yuko No Tenbin (A Balance)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021