Synopsis

This film was screened in the Competition section of the 26th Tokyo FILMeX in 2025.
 
Set in director Uchiyama’s hometown of Niigata, Shibire is an autobiographical drama spanning 20 years, following a lonely boy’s search for belonging and his discovery of a breathtaking, life-changing love.
 
In a small seaside town along the stormy, gray waters of the Sea of Japan, a boy named Daichi grows up unable to speak—a result of the trauma inflicted by his tyrannical father. He lives with his mother, Aki, in a makeshift room atop a building, but she is rarely home, working in the nightlife industry to make ends meet. Struggling through poverty and isolation, Daichi eventually moves with Aki into his aunt’s home, yet he continues to feel out of place, withdrawn and alone. When he decides to visit his childhood home in search of his missing father, he sets off a chain of events that will forever alter the course of his life.