Nobody Knows

Hirokazu Kore-eda, who wrote and directed the international success After Life, returns with this story about a family dealing with an unusual dilemma in an unusual manner. Keiko (You) is a single mother who moves with her 12-year-old son, Akira (Yuya Yagira), into a small flat in a large city; however, what the building management doesn't know is that Kieko also has three other children, all fathered by different men: ten-year-old Kyoko (Ayu Kitaura), seven-year-old Shigeru (Hiei Kimura), and four-year-old Yuki (Momoko Shimizu). One day, Akira finds a note from his mother, saying that she'll be away for a while and that he's in charge while she's gone; the message is accompanied by an envelope full of money. Akira takes this news in stride, since it isn't the first time this has happened; he sees to it that the bills are paid, Kyoko takes care of the housework, and the youngest kids look after one another. But days stretch into weeks and it becomes clear that Kieko may not be coming back for a while. At first, the children try to keep up appearances as if their mother was still around, but as time goes on and money gets low, things become increasingly chaotic, and Kieko starts running out of ways to dodge the landlord and keep their problem a secret. Daremo Shiranai was inspired by actual events known in Japan as The Affair of the Four Abandoned Children of Nishi-Sugamo, though Kore-eda's version differs considerably from what occurred in real life. — Mark Deming

AMG Review:
Hirokazu Koreeda's Nobody Knows offers an intelligent and compassionate glimpse into the lives of four abandoned children, their unique resourcefulness, and their tragic inability to survive indefinitely on their own. It's an engrossing, occasionally wonderful drama. It's more in line with the perceptive naturalism and subtextual symbolism of his previous film, Distance, than with the singular brilliance of After Life. While it's based on an actual incident that occurred in Japan in 1988, it also bears a strong resemblance to Isild Le Besco's Demi-Tarif, which takes place in Paris, but is also about a group of siblings surviving in alone with a mother who briefly flits in and out of their lives. Nobody Knows takes a more subdued, realistic, and responsible to the situation than the French film's unmediated anarchy. It's a more traditional narrative, moving inexorably toward tragedy and not quite as astonishing as Le Besco's. That said, Koreeda gets strong, affecting performances from his young cast, and it's impossible not to be moved by their plight and heartened by their resilience. But they still function better as symbols of societal neglect and indifference than as fully realized characters. Koreeda's earthbound approach allows him to address this theme without being too heavy-handed about it, but his movie runs a bit too long to sustain it. Even the name of the actress he's cast as the children's flighty, selfish mother (Japanese television star YOU) serves his larger purpose. — Josh Ralske