99% Cloudy… Always

KUSUNOKI Kazuha (SANGOUMI Midori) is a chatty, energetic 45-year-old woman who lives with her husband Daichi (NIKAIDO Satoshi). Their life together is happy, but when Kazuha’s family gather to commemorate the one-year anniversary of her mother’s death and her uncle asks her if she will ever have children, it strikes her deeply.

Many factors complicate Kazuha’s decision to remain childless despite constant pressure encouraging her towards motherhood: she has experienced a miscarriage in the past, and she worries about how her Asperger’s syndrome will affect her parenting. But her husband wants children, and as the issue is pushed again and again, the rift between them only grows.

As lead actress SANGOUMI’s feature film directorial debut, 99% Cloudy… Always paints a precise and unflinching portrait of a woman on the autism spectrum, something which draws attention in Japan, and how she adapts in a society that maintains rigid expectations of normality.

俳優で声優の瑚海みどりが自ら監督、脚本、主演を務めたヒューマン・ドラマ。夫と2人で暮らす45歳の一葉は、自分がアスペルガー傾向にあること、過去に流産の経験があることから、子どもを持つべきか悩む。家族や社会から「母性」を期待される女性の葛藤を追う。現代日本の硬直的な価値観に適応しようともがく一人の女性の姿が繊細に描かれる。

(Special thanks to Eikoku News Digest)