One summer morning, three sisters Sachi, Yoshino and Chika living together in the city of Kamakura received the obituary of their estranged father. In spite of growing up with the grudge of their father, they still attended his funeral, where they met their younger half-sister Suzu Asano. “Do you want to live with us?” Suzu accepted their invitation without hesitation and a new family was formed.

- Umimachi Diary -

　　The movie Umimachi Diary directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda follows the lives of four sisters. The family-themed film set across the beautiful seasons in Kamakura and audiences can get a sense of the ebb and flow of life for the sisters.

　　This film, which hit theaters during the 7th Beijing International Film Festival, will be screened online at the 10th Beijing International Film Festival from August 22 to September 22, 2020.

- Four Seasons in Kamakura -

　　On December 24, 2014, the cast members of the film Umimachi Diary wrapped up the last scene in Kyoto. Hirokazu Kore-eda and Suzu Hirose playing the character of Suzu Asano respectively announced the news on their social media accounts that the film was in the can after being filmed in many locations for one year. “The beauty of Kamakura’s four seasons is fully presented in this film,” said Akimi Yoshida, the author of the manga series Umimachi Diary, after it was preliminarily edited. Just like the film Nobody Knows, Hirokazu Kore-eda indicated the tale’s time frame by the changes of seasons in Umimachi Diary.

　　Although the film was shot in Yamagata and Kyoto, Kamakura is the most filming location. The shooting of this film has gone through four stages. The spring scenes were shot during the cherry blossom season on April 7- 8; the scenes of blooming Hydrangea flowers were shot on June 16 and June 23 during the rainy seasons; from July 29 to September 8, the six-week shooting of the main story that the four sisters lived together was made in a private house in Kamakura; the final chapter depicts the winter when the leaves turned red and fell off the trees. The director carefully selected the most impressive periods in Japan, and recorded the most beautiful sceneries in the area with a video camera-from the cherry blossom season to firework display, from the hydrangeas in Kamakura to the red leaves in Kyoto. Regardless of the plot, the scenery in this movie is a rich feast for viewers’ eyes.

　　The film is called Umimachi Diary. As the name suggests, the place where the four sisters live is close to the sea, located in Kamakura, a city alongside the Shonan beach. This is a place where Hanamichi Sakuragi fosters his basketball dream and a place witnessing the story of the young Onizuka (the filming location of Slam Dunk and Shonan Junai Gumi), and meanwhile it boasts of many must-visit landscape scenic spots in Japan.

　　After Suzu Asano moved to live with her sisters, she often played around the seaside town with her friends, such as the Momijigayatsu Valley near Zuisenji Temple, where visitors can enjoy the beauty of maple leaves in Kanto without going to Kyoto. She with another two friends Futa and Masashi, can went through this place to admire autumn leaves. Everything is so new to the transfer student Suzu. Futa often serves as a tour guide for her and introduces some history that she does not know: Kamakura-gu is a shrine dedicated to the tragic prince Morinaga, who was defeated by his political opponent and then killed. Futa often watches Noh plays at the Daitōnomiya, another name of the Kamakura-gu.

　　Let’s look at Sasuke Inari Shrine, located axisymmetrically at the other side of Kamakura, where the god Inari was worshipped. Legends say that an Inari fox, a messenger of the god, appeared to Yoritomo Minamoto in a dream, leading to his success in battle against his enemies. Chika Kouda and Suzu witnessed Yoshino Kouda’s date with her boyfriend Tomoaki here. In addition to the shrine, Chika also ran into her them at the Hase Station. Inamuragasaki, not far from the Hase Station, witnessed Yoshino’s sadness, where her boyfriend decided to break up with her but she failed to save their relationship. The surf shop where Yoshino’s boyfriend worked is also located in Inamuragasaki. Visitors can see Mount Fuji and Enoshima Island at the same time from the Inamuragasaki Cape. The former must be best-known to tourists, the latter is the most famous attraction besides the ancient temple in Kamakura. Many movies have been filmed in Enoshima Island.

　　“This is a very moving story. The images of each character in the manga series are so vivid that I find it difficult to portray these characters in a film. In such a beautiful and vibrant city, it is family love that maintains the connections between the beautiful people living there. So I want to connect this kind of characters, family love and the city together. This is my original intention to shoot this film,” said Hirokazu Kore-eda to a journalist at the Gokurakuji Temple in the summer of 2014. The shooting of this film fully demonstrated his unique aesthetic attitudes and became another turning point in his director career.

　　Before shooting Nobody Knows, Hirokazu left us the impression that his films are paced slowly and is a famous documentary filmmaker. In spite of some fantastic scenes in the film Distance, he used to focus on people mostly in a film. Yuya Yagira shot to fame after he was awarded the Best Actor at the Festival de Cannes due to his excellent performance in Nobody Knows. Besides, structured around four seasons, the story progresses slowly and the beautiful scenery has been used to cushion sadness. It has been more than ten years since Nobody Knows was released. Hirokazu spent one year shooting the Umimachi Diary. He took on weighty familial themes and finally produced such a warm, beautifully-told family movie.

　　Umimachi Diary enables audiences to enjoy Japanese aesthetic beauty to the fullest and the four seasons in Kamakura bring a touch of warmth that touch audiences’ hearts.