Rail Truck

A tale of two islands and growing up as a stranger in a strange land told with an artistry that recalls Hou HsiaoHsien at his best Based on Ryunosuke Akutagawas short story of the same title 1922 Kawaguchis film moves the original early 20thcentury Izu Peninsula to presentday Taiwan where the strength of family ties is singularly put to the test Yumiko Machiko Ono who married against her parents wishes has struggled on in stubborn determination since her husbands death moving her family from their Tokyo home to the verdant rural Taiwan village of her inlaws Her son Atsushi strongly conscious that in ethnocentric Japan he is different is in a state of rebellion against both the society in which he has grown up and his mother In their new home the family rediscovers the bonds that unite it