Part of the 2024 season: Unforgettable
The Zen Diary
Tsuchi o kurau junika getsu, 土を喰らう十二カ月
Director NAKAE Yuji
Cast SAWADA Kenji, MATSU Takako, NARAOKA Tomoko, DAN Fumi
2022, 111 min, English subtitles
Tsutomu (SAWADA Kenji) is a writer who lives in a secluded mountain cabin in Nagano. He shares the space with his dog and the unburied ashes of his wife Yaeko, who passed away thirteen years ago, and spends his time harvesting vegetables, then cooking with them using a method he learned as a young Buddhist monk. Though largely solitary, he receives occasional company from his editor and romantic interest Machiko (MATSU Takako), and from his rather eccentric mother-in-law, Chie (NARAOKA Tomoko).
When Tsutomu one day finds Chie dead in her home, he is forced to finally consider his feelings on death. He works to arrange Chie’s funeral proceedings, and once the funeral has concluded, invites Machiko to live with him, an offer to which she gives serious thought.
Based on an essay on food and cooking by leading Japanese author MIZUKAMI Tsutomu, The Zen Diary eschews drama in favour of its focus on zen cuisine and seasonal scenery, offering audiences a glimpse into the joys of a slow, simple life seen through the lenses of bonds, memory, and love.
水上勉の同名エッセイを映画化。長野の山奥で愛犬と亡き妻の遺骨と共に暮らす作家、ツトムの1年を、四季折々の食を織り交ぜて描く人間ドラマ。ツトムは幼いころ禅寺で暮らした経験から、今も自分で育てた野菜や山で収穫した山菜を使い、精進料理を作る毎日。編集者の恋人との静かな時が流れる。作品内の料理は、全て料理研究家の土井善晴が手掛けた。
(Special thanks to Eikoku News Digest)
Past screenings
- Showroom Cinema Sunday 4 February, 18:00
- ICA Sunday 11 February, 13:00
- Eden Court Monday 12 February, 18:00
- Dundee Contemporary Arts Saturday 17 February, 15:30
- The Dukes Sunday 18 February, 13:30
- Aberystwyth Arts Centre Saturday 24 February, 17:30
- Warwick Arts Centre Friday 1 March, 17:00
- Warwick Arts Centre Saturday 2 March, 17:00
- Queen's Film Theatre Sunday 3 March, 15:00
- Depot Sunday 3 March, 15:30
- Warwick Arts Centre Sunday 3 March, 17:00
- Exeter Phoenix Saturday 9 March, 16:30
- The Phoenix Cinema Thursday 14 March, 16:30
- QUAD Saturday 16 March, 15:00
- Broadway Sunday 17 March, 16:15
- Cinema City Monday 18 March, 20:30
- Midlands Arts Centre Sunday 24 March, 14:30
- Storyhouse Sunday 24 March, 15:30
- Tyneside Tuesday 26 March, 18:00
- Plymouth Arts Cinema Thursday 28 March, 18:00
If you like this you may like the following
All films in this season
- Winny
- Egoist
- Ripples
- YOKO
- Hit Me Anyone One More Time!
- Thousand and One Nights
- The Inerasable
- Sabakan
- Undercurrent
- The Lump in My Heart
- From the End of the World
- Twilight Cinema Blues
- Shadow of Fire
- Do Unto Others
- Hoarder On The Border
- Voices in the Wind
- A Man
- Ice Cream Fever
- Hand
- Mondays: See You ‘This’ Week!
- The Fish Tale
- The Zen Diary
- The Snow Flurry
- Lonely Castle in the Mirror