Great Absence [Blu-ray]

Great Absence Blu-ray presents Kei Chikaura’s quietly powerful drama about memory, estrangement and the fragile bonds between parent and child. Praised for its emotional restraint and haunting atmosphere, the film explores the lingering wounds that shape family relationships across time.

When working actor Takashi receives a sudden call from the police, he is forced to reconnect with his father Yohji, an esteemed academic he has not seen in over twenty years. Now suffering from rapidly advancing dementia, Yohji lives in a fractured reality that raises troubling questions about the disappearance of his wife and the life he has built since their estrangement. As Takashi attempts to untangle the mystery, buried resentments and unresolved grief rise to the surface, forcing him to confront a past he has long tried to leave behind.

A delicate and devastating meditation on loss, aging and the erosion of memory, Great Absence reveals the quiet emotional devastation that lingers within families long after words have gone unspoken.

directed by: Kei Chikaura
starring: Mirai Moriyama, Tatsuya Fuji, Yoko Maki, Hideko Hara
2023 / 133 min / Japanese

Number of discs: 1