Directed by the prolific and eclectic Nobuhiko Obayashi, of, among so many other precious titles, the cult horror favorite House (1977) and the recently released Labyrinth of Cinema (2019), the last film in his war trilogy and career!

Shot in 1989, this lesser-seen masterpiece subtly chronicles the end of a decade marked by the Japanese economic bubble and the brutal close of possibility in China through an unlikely camaraderie between headstrong Japanese greengrocer Shunzo (Bengal) and the young and broke Chinese foreign exchange students who frequent his store.

Obayashi is at his most modern, channeling Yasujiro Ozu, while his experimental flourishes provide the perfect disruption, inviting viewers to fill in the blanks of history.