My Technicolor Girl

Nagano has had a sickness of the heart for 40 years and has been hospitalized at the mental hospital in Fukushima. However, during the evacuation when the Great East Japan Earthquake hit on March 11, 2011, knowing that he’s already completely healed, he makes his way back out to into the world. Having been hospitalized from when he was in his teens until his fifties, his story is like that of Urashima Taro, the Japanese fisherman who went beneath the sea as a young man and returned to an unfamiliar world. However, his heart from long ago is for the first time full of feelings to meet the woman he loved. Before long, Nagano learns that the woman has taken refuge in Tokyo and lives with her son and his wife, and sets out on a bike headed for Tokyo.

Directed by Rei Sakamoto, My Technicolor Girl leans on a strong ensemble — Kazuhiro Sano, Kiyomi Itō, Maki Nishiyama — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 2016.