One fine day, Sachiko takes off, leaving behind her 18-year-old daughter to fend for herself. Ichiko grew up in Komori as a lone child with her mother Sachiko(Karen Kirishima) and surviving off the little money that Sachiko managed to put together from farming. © Little Forest: Summer/Autumn (screengrab). Little Forest dwells in the most mundane of things in life and teaches tenderly. Through the food that she prepares, and her narrative musings as she busies herself with farming and cooking – the viewer slowly learns about her childhood, the complex relationship she has with her mother, about her friends and neighbours, and about her time in the city. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest that the films resemble documentary programs from some Japanese version of a food network or travel channel.īut, at its heart, Little Forest has a very interesting story to tell and the method chosen to communicate it is genuinely affecting and moving. The treatment and tone of these films also set them apart, with minimal dialogue and much of the story building done through Ichiko’s narration. The ‘Summer’ portion of the film alone has seven different dishes. Major portions of both these films are spent in the kitchen, with detailed footage of how each individual dish is prepared. © Little Forest: Summer/Autumn (screengrab).ĭivided into four parts, these films follow an interesting structure, with the narrative plot urged forward by the different dishes that Ichiko prepares in accordance with the season and the resources that are available to her. ![]() The story is told through the different dishes that Ichiko prepares each season. Lush paddy fields that stretch as far as the eye can see and thick forests teeming with rich plant and wildlife make up much of the landscape of Komori. Komori, which literally translates to “Little Forest”, is a fictional village located at the bottom of a mountain basin, cut away from the rest of the world, with a small population of farmers who live off this generous land. There aren’t any stores here, but if you have a little shopping to do, there’s a small farmers’ co-op supermarket…” “Komori is a small settlement in a village somewhere in the Tōhoku region. And, each film begins in the same exact manner, with the narrator, Ichiko, introducing us to the town of Komori. © Little Forest: Summer/Autumn (screengrab).ĭivided into different parts based on the different seasons – summer, autumn, winter and spring – four different movies essentially make up this two-part epic from Mori. Ai Hashimoto plays the protagonist, Ichiko. Mori’s original Little Forest came out in two parts, Little Forest: Summer/Autumn in 2014 and a year later, Little Forest: Winter/Spring in 2015.īased on a slice of life manga series written and illustrated by Daisuke Igarashi, Little Forest tells the tale of Ichiko (Ai Hashimoto), who after being unable to find her place in the city returns to her hometown Komori, a rural village in the mountains of the Tōhoku region, to lead a solitary life farming the land and living in accordance with the changing seasons. ![]() It is genuinely surprising how little attention these beautiful set of films from Junichi Mori have received over the years (albeit a Korean remake came out this year).
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