Dogwood Tree

Sae is in her last year of school in Hokkaido. She meets Kōhei, who wants to be a fisherman and intends to stay where he was born. Sae wants to study in Tokyo. They love each other, and their lives are heading to different places. The film watches the distance between them over years: letters, meetings, partings, other people, and each time another chance encounter. What comes between them is never a quarrel, only time and distance. Nobuhiro Doi directs, with Yui Aragaki as Sae and Toma Ikuta as Kōhei. The film takes its title from Hitoto Yo's song of the same name. It runs over two hours and describes not a great event but a long stretch of time.