Story

From the producers of "Kiseki no Hagaki (The Miraculous Postcards)", which garnered Sarina Suzuki the Best Lead Actress in a Foreign Language Film award at the Madrid International Film Festival (Spain) in 2017, comes a powerful new film: "Grandma is Okay". Told through the eyes of Tsubasa, a young schoolboy, the film captures what it feels like to watch a grandparent succumb to dementia from an innocent, pure perspective. Critics have heaped accolades on the work, including two honors at the Milan International Filmmaker Festival (Italy): Best Lead Actor for Kokoro Terada—the youngest actor to ever receive the prize—and Best Director for Jacky Woo. The work has drawn attention in Japan, too, where numerous media outlets have given the film coverage.
The film is an adaptation of "Baba wa daijobu" (story: Akiko Kusunoki; illustrations: Tsutomu Ishii), a heartrending, heartwarming picture book that has sold over 100,000 copies. A powerful, poignant story that resonates with all ages, the book was the assigned reading for the 63rd National Youth Book Report Contest's Lower-Grade Student Division (2017) and received the Third Children's Pen Award for Children's Literature (2017).
Starring as Tsubasa is Kokoro Terada, a popular child actor whose TV spots for TOTO and other appearances have put him squarely in the spotlight. Manami Fuji, a veteran with more than 60 years of acting experience, co-stars as Grandma. Another notable cast member is Sei Hiraizumi, whose career has included numerous appearances on the big screen, small screen, variety shows, and more. Hiraizumi plays the supporting role of a kind, helpful neighbor with a dementia-afflicted wife.

Notes

Tsubasa (Kokoro Terada), a shy, timid elementary school student, lives with his grandma (Manami Fuji), dad (Yuya Uchida), and mom (Yoko Matsuda). Tsubasa's a grandma's boy—whenever he's feeling down, he seeks her out and confides in her. She's always willing to lend an ear and give him the reassurance he's looking for. "It's okay," she says, no matter what the situation might be. When Tsubasa's getting picked on at school, Grandma saves the day.
But Grandma starts changing. She asks the same questions over and over; she forgets how to knit, something she'd been so good at.
Grandma has the "forgetting disease" (dementia). She starts getting angry out of the blue, lets the plants in her garden dry up, eats all the jam she'd made especially for Tsubasa... and it all scares him. So much so, in fact, that he starts avoiding her.
One day, she up and leaves the house without any shoes on—and stays gone. "Where's Grandma?" Tsubasa asks, and starts to learn what's happening to the woman he's looked up to for so long.

Cast

Kokoro Terada
Sei Hiraizumi

Director・Work Data