Sweet Bean

Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase's Sweet Bean was the opening presentation at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard competition, a prestigious honor that it richly deserved. The story focuses on Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase), owner of a small shop that sells “dorayaki”—a Japanese red bean pancake confection. Sentaro advertises for an assistant and is surprised to get a response from Tokue (Kirin Kiki), an elderly lady with somewhat deformed hands. While Sentaro is initially indifferent to Tokue, he quickly comes to respect the quality of the bean paste that she creates for the dorayaki, and sales increase dramatically after she becomes part of his shop. As the film progresses, it is slowly revealed that Sentaro and Tokue have tragic life stories that make them near-pariahs in Japanese society. Benefiting from both intelligent direction and extraordinary chemistry between the two stars, Sweet Bean speaks to universal themes about perseverance, as well as distinctively Japanese concerns about conformist behavior. Highly recommended. (P. Hall)