Love Life(HKAFF 2022)

“Whatever the distance between us, nothing can stop me from loving you,” sings Akiko Yano in her 1990 song “Love Life”. This lyric inspired director Koji Fukada (Harmonium [13th], The Real Thing [17th]) to tell this quietly impactful drama about trauma and the distances we create for our loved ones. Taeko and Jiro seem to share the ideal marriage, but when a family tragedy brings Taeko’s ex-husband back into their lives, Taeko is faced with the choice of moving forward or seeking comfort in the past. Like Fukada’s previous films, the story’s dramatic events are sharply contrasted with a distant gentleness that magnifies the characters’ moral complexity.