4/5 stars
In Renoir, hardly anybody cries. Its eerily calm characters shed barely a tear even when caring for the dying, mourning the dead or struggling with their lifeless marriages.
Set in Japan in the 1980s and revolving around the life of a schoolgirl whose father lies dying in hospital from cancer, Renoir is an empathetic portrait of a childโs rite of passage in a society beset by very real moral dilemmas.
More importantly, Hayakawa offers a subtle, yet spot-on critique of the twisted social norms which would have made the inhuman scheme in Plan 75 a very distinct reality.
Premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Renoir is bolstered by Hayakawaโs sound screenplay and solid mise-en-scรจne, in which her charactersโ frostiness is contrasted with the warm colour palettes of cluttered Japanese homes in summertime.