Still struggling to cope with the loss of his beloved wife after two years, renowned theatre director Yûsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) accepts an invitation to mount a production of Chekov’s Uncle Vanya at a theatre festival in Hiroshima. As tensions between the director and his arrogant star (Masaki Okada) rise, Yûsuke finds an outlet for his past traumas in heartfelt conversations with the introverted young woman (Tôko Miura) who has been appointed to drive him around town.

Oscar-nominated director Ryusuke Hamaguchi brings Haruki Murakami’s short story to life with a meditative film that is rich, engrossing and rewarding for every second of its 179-minute runtime. The length may purport to put you off, but there’s a reason so many critics have declared it as one of the best films of the year. It even received four Oscar nominations, including – in a historic first for a Japanese film – Best Picture.