The Parades, a Japanese fantasy film on the afterlife

Most of us have regrets and in fact we take our unresolved regrets to our graves.  "The Parades" fancies how some of them might be handled.

We first see a young mother searching for her young boy after a natural disaster, a tsunami.  After a short while we realize that she is dead.  She is led to a group who in a round about way explain they are all in a similar situation.  Dead and with unresolved regrets.  In the next two hours or so we watch as they try to resolve their regrets.

One character, Michael is a film maker and throughout the story presents films that explain some of his regrets while helping others with theirs.  A big regret of his was leaving a woman he loved.  Towards the end the characters accept their situation and through some fantasy are able to alleviate their guilty feelings.  The film is dedicated to "Michael."

You may not be in the mood for such wanderings, but at some time they may help wake you up to your own regrets.  Earlier blogged about Daniel Pink's book on regrets that you might find helpful:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/06/the-power-of-regret.html

The story is gentle and the acting, music, cinematography and writing are top notch.  Here are some of the contributors.

 Michihito Fujji is the writer and director.  He has 29 credits as director 15 as a writer and 4 as producer.  "The Journalist" (2019) was one.  Check:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/01/the-journalist.html 

 Yojiro Noda handled the music.  He has 10 credits as an actor and 2 as a composer.   He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for Radwimps. It is him singing during the end credits.

Kesuke Imamura is the cinematographer.  He has 22 cinematography credits.

Masami Nagasaw played the single mother at the beginning of the film.  She has 99 credits including "Our Little Sister" (2015).  She once learned Mandarin for a Taiwanese film. and was also a spokesperson for Taiwan Tourism in Japan.

Ryusei Yokahoma played aother of the dead regretters.  He has 54 credits including "The Journaist" (2019).  A member of a rock band, a karate champion at a young age and worked in theatre.

Lily Franky played Michael.  His unusual stage name comes "Franky Goes to Hollywood" and from his university affiliation.  He has 96 acting creits and 4 for writing.  His features include "Like Father, Like Son" (2013), "Our Little Sister" (2015" and "Shoplifters" (2018).  Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/03/japanese-movies-are-more-than-godzilla.html discusses "Like Father, Like Son" along a variety of other Japanese films.

"The Parades" is available on Netflix, subtitled or dubbed.

As is my usual habit I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen.