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MIDNIGHT BUS

By Masao TAKESHITA

TOEI COMPANY, LTD. - as SALES All rights

Family - Completed 2017

A Tokyo-Niigata bus driver, Toshikazu reunites with his ex-wife, Miyuki. Between them there are two kids living in Niigata, while he has a young girlfriend in Tokyo. Conflicting his duty to restore relationships of his broken family and his romance for his beloved, in which way will he turn his bus?

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    • Year of production
    • 2017
    • Genres
    • Family, Drama
    • Countries
    • JAPAN
    • Languages
    • JAPANESE
    • Budget
    • 0.6 - 1 M$
    • Duration
    • 157 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Masao TAKESHITA
    • Writer(s)
    • Yuki IBUKI, Masato KATO
    • Producer(s)
    • Hideyuki HONMA, Shinya HIMEDA, Hitoshi ENDO (AMUSE INC.)
    • Synopsis
    • Middle-aged Toshikazu (nicknamed as “Riichi”) Takamiya (Taizo Harada) quits an oppressive job in Tokyo to returns to his hometown in Niigata Prefecture and starts a new life as a long-distance, red-eye bus driver. One evening on his usual route from Tokyo to Niigata, he is surprised to see a familiar looking woman boarding the bus at the last minute. It is his ex-wife, Miyuki (Mirai Yamamoto), whom he had divorced 16 years ago. He learns that Miyuki has a new family in Tokyo and is on her way to visit her sick father, who lives alone in Niigata, but he observes how fatigued she looks. Riichi and Miyuki had two children between them, Reiji (Kou Nanase) and Ayana (Wakana Aoi).

      Riichi had just been considering re-marrying; to his current girlfriend Shiho (Manami Konishi) who runs a diner in Tokyo. But his eldest child, Reiji, then shows up at his door having also quit his job in Tokyo. Meanwhile, his daughter, Ayana, who shares an apartment with a friend, has launched an online shopping site selling manga and merchandise, and is conflicted between marriage and pursuing a dream that looks achievable. But it is Miyuki’s poor physical condition that nags at Riichi, having learned of her husband’s infidelity. With each family member at a crossroads, a family torn apart by divorce long ago, find themselves back in each other’s lives in Niigata, all looking for some help to move forward.

      The 16 years Riichi and Miyuki have spent apart and the inconsolable reality of the present impel Riichi and Miyuki toward each other again. But they both understand their paths have diverged too much to ever realign again. Riichi has a steady girlfriend in Shiho and Miyuki has a husband and a young son to care for. And yet, Riichi finds himself thinking of Miyuki when with Shiho, and Shiho when with Miyuki.

      Months after their reunion on the bus, with light snow falling, Riichi sees Miyuki off as she returns by bus to Tokyo. Alone with his thoughts, Riichi dwells on the his current station in life not completely whether it is a dark afternoon or the middle of evening. All around him is pitch blackness. But he has been here before countless times, and knows that if he keeps moving forward without fear, he’ll eventually be greeted ahead by a beautiful dawn. He turns his bus towards to Shiho. Life moves forward, not backwards. Or so he hopes.
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