Part of the 2015 season: It Only Happens in the Movies?

All About Our House

Director Koki Mitani

Cast Toshiaki Karasawa, Kunie Tanaka, Naoki Tanaka, Akiko Yagi, Tsuyoshi Ihara

2001, 116min, English subtitles

みんなのいえ (Minna no ie)

Married couple Naosuke (Naoki Tanaka) and Tamiko (Akiko Yagi) decide to build a new house from scratch, recruiting a young interior designer to plan, and Tamiko’s retired-carpenter father to build. However, not too long later they find that the designer’s contemporary, innovative ideas clash with the old carpenter’s traditional Japanese methods, the project starts to become a real mess, with Naosuke and Tamiko finding themselves playing piggy in the middle…

Written and directed by Koki Mitani (The Uchoten Hotel, Once In a Blue Moon), this film is an uplifting and roller-coaster tale of a young couple trying to create their dream home, and about how the clash of different generations’ ideals can almost make the whole thing fall to pieces! The film is also a fascinating insight into the enjoyable (and arguably painful) process of building a house!

Showing at: ICA, London; QFT, Belfast; Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Broadway Cinema, Nottingham.

Distributor: Fuji Television Network

Images © 2001 Fuji Television Network, Inc., Toho

Past screenings