Cottontail (12A)
Directed by Patrick Dickinson
★★★★

 
A GRIEVING husband travels with his estranged son from Japan to England to fulfil his wife’s last wishes in this understated but quietly haunting and beautiful drama, the debut feature film from documentarian Patrick Dickinson. 
 
In a letter written before Alzheimer’s destroyed her mental faculties Akiko (Tae Kimura) states that she wants her ashes to be scattered over Lake Windermere, the place she loved most as a child and where she chased a Cottontail in 1966.
 
The film follows Kenzaburo (Lily Franky) and his son Toshi (Ryo Nishikido) as they clash over this trip and how best to realise Akiko’s wishes. It is intercut with flashbacks of Kenzaburo remembering key moments in his life with her from when they first met to the loss of her ability to take care of herself. He loses himself in the past as things become more stressful and fraught with Toshi. 
 
Driven by a powerful standout performance by Franky, you cannot help feeling shaken and stirred by Kenzaburo’s plight as he ditches his son and his family in London to head straight to Lake Windermere, which looks breathtaking. His lack of English lands him in a precarious situation and he is befriended by a farmer and his daughter, played by real-life father and daughter Ciaran Hinds and Aoife Hinds. 
 
This slow-burning drama examines grief and family loss, as well as these characters’ inability to voice their own pain and emotion. However, it also shows how they slowly embark on a path towards healing and understanding. 

In cinemas February 14