The Yellow Handkerchief

Kinya has bought a new car and set out to drive around Hokkaido. On the road he meets Akemi, travelling alone, and then Yusaku, a middle-aged man. The three carry on together. When Kinya asks where he is going, Yusaku says only Yubari. Then it emerges that the man served a sentence for murder and has just come out. On the day he was released he wrote to his wife: if you still want me, hang a yellow handkerchief in the window. As the car heads for Yubari, he does not know what he will see. Yoji Yamada directs the Japanese film; a hundred and nine minutes, with Ken Takakura as Yusaku, Chieko Baisho as his wife and Tetsuya Takeda as Kinya. It took eight prizes at the Japan Academy Awards, including best film. It was remade in America in 2008.