Synopsis
Kaito, a 16-year-old boy lives with her single mother – a complicated relationship due to his mother’s multiple partners. The sudden discovery of a corpse floating on the riverfront and the incoming typhoon that engulfs the town sets a catalyst that brings out Kaito’s traumas to the fore, and enacts a coming of age in the face of one’s mortality. As with the slowness of island life and the turbulent waves of a storm, Kawase moves her story in a pace that holds a strong allegiance and sensitivity to the environment. Deeply personal, Still The Water was made after the death of Kawase’s adoptive mother (the film is also set in Amami-Oshima, the birth place of her ancestors), providing a haunting parable about the cycle of life and death and the transmission of knowledge between generations.