Film
JFTFP26: The Real You (12)
Original title: 本心 (Honshin)
Dir. ISHII Yuya, Japan, 2024, 122 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles. Cast. IKEMATSU Sosuke, MIYOSHI Ayaka, TSUMABUKI Satoshi, TANAKA Yuko.
In the near future, ISHIKAWA Sakuya (IKEMATSU Sosuke) receives a phone call from his mother, Akiko (TANAKA Yuko), who wants to tell him something important — but before they can meet, he witnesses her drowning in a river. One year later, after waking from a coma, Sakuya discovers that his mother participated in a government-approved “elective death” programme.
Confused and desperate to learn his mother’s final message, Sakuya meets NOZAKI Masato (TSUMABUKI Satoshi), a developer of Virtual Figures (VF) — AI recreations of the dead built from harvested data and accessed through VR goggles. He also approaches MIYOSHI Ayaka (MIYOSHI Ayaka), supposedly his mother’s friend, to collect more information. Soon, the VF is complete. As the three begin an unusual cohabitation, his mother’s digital image gradually reveals a side of her that Sakuya had never known existed…
Adapted from HIRANO Keiichiro’s novel of the same name, this film by director ISHII Yuya (The Moon, JFTFP25) tackles urgent social issues — from the use of advanced technologies to assisted dying — while confronting audiences with the question of what we might feel when we finally learn the truth about others.
Content guidance: Contains mild violence.
Dir. ISHII Yuya, Japan, 2024, 122 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles. Cast. IKEMATSU Sosuke, MIYOSHI Ayaka, TSUMABUKI Satoshi, TANAKA Yuko.
In the near future, ISHIKAWA Sakuya (IKEMATSU Sosuke) receives a phone call from his mother, Akiko (TANAKA Yuko), who wants to tell him something important — but before they can meet, he witnesses her drowning in a river. One year later, after waking from a coma, Sakuya discovers that his mother participated in a government-approved “elective death” programme.
Confused and desperate to learn his mother’s final message, Sakuya meets NOZAKI Masato (TSUMABUKI Satoshi), a developer of Virtual Figures (VF) — AI recreations of the dead built from harvested data and accessed through VR goggles. He also approaches MIYOSHI Ayaka (MIYOSHI Ayaka), supposedly his mother’s friend, to collect more information. Soon, the VF is complete. As the three begin an unusual cohabitation, his mother’s digital image gradually reveals a side of her that Sakuya had never known existed…
Adapted from HIRANO Keiichiro’s novel of the same name, this film by director ISHII Yuya (The Moon, JFTFP25) tackles urgent social issues — from the use of advanced technologies to assisted dying — while confronting audiences with the question of what we might feel when we finally learn the truth about others.
Content guidance: Contains mild violence.
