The Midnight Sun

Fumi has decided to move out and live on her own, but she worries about leaving behind her interfering father and older brother Mucchan, who has hidden away in his room for ten years. One day, she wanders into a strange town where the sun never sets, and happens to run into Mucchan there. Fumi’s father still meddles excessively in her life, and her brother gradually becomes invisible. Fumi’s vision juxtaposes her suffocating everyday life and summer days spent with her brother filled with laughter. Director Hina Murata’s first feature film, The Midnight Sun freely switches between screen sizes to delicately portray Fumi’s world. The effective use of embroidery as a prop, together with refreshing performances from Sakiko Honda as Fumi and Saki Toyoyama as Mucchan, bring a sense of reality to this wondrous world.