The Dark Harbour

Lonely fisherman Manzo (Shinya Kote) lives in a small seaside community, living and working alone. He longs for a relationship, and maybe even a wife, and so when a sign is posted advertising a matchmaking party with city women, the men all prepare videotapes for the dating service.

Manzo borrows a camcorder and tries his luck, but his rehearsed speech doesn’t go quite to plan – when he is showing the tape to potential dates, he discovers that there is a woman and her son living in one of his closets. Upon this discovery, rather than kicking them out he encourages them to stay, and begins to develop a relationship with them…

This film was a great success for newcomer director Takatsugu Naito, showing at the Rotterdam Film Festival 2009, where it was nominated for a Tiger Award.