another side of the average jane

youmightfindyourself:

In this fragile and poignant film, four Japanese children all live together with their mother in a small apartment in Tokyo. Each child is the result of a different relationship, and a different father. In the beginning of the film, the mother and her eldest son, Akira, sneak the youngest two children into the apartment from inside their luggage, as if it were a game that they have played many times before. “Was it hot in there?” asks the mother as she opens the mid-sized container, freeing the young boy. “It was super hot.” Later in the evening, Akira is sent out to retrieve his younger sister and bring her back to their new home. She is too large for the luggage game.

From time to time, the children’s mother leaves them alone for the night as she frolics about, meeting new men. She comes home, smelling of booze, and wakes the sleeping children to play games. Akira is the only child who is a student; the others are told that they do not need an education.

Eventually, the mother begins leaving the children alone for longer amounts of time. Soon they find themselves alone for days, weeks and even months with nothing but an envelope full of money left by their estranged parent. Akira is oddly mature, even more so than his mother, and fully able to fulfill all the necessary deeds to continue life in the apartment without the outside world knowing of their presence, and of their desolation. When the money runs low, Akira visits the fathers of all four children and hangs out to ask for money, as if it were a routine thing. “Yuki ain’t my kid. Every time I did it with your mom, I used a prophylactic.” The man gives Akira the money.

The sight of young Akira and the children’s lives passing them by is crippling. Crayon drawings find homes on overdue water bills, clothes dirty and tear, and hair grows out past the eye line.

Nobody Knows