Film
After the Storm
- Family drama
- Slow-burning
A middle-aged man coasting on faded success—failed writer, failed husband, failed father—finds himself trapped in his mother's apartment during a typhoon with his ex-wife and son. Hirokazu Koreeda's patient, unsentimental film watches ordinary people circle each other with a mix of tenderness and regret, finding small moments of connection in the spaces between disappointment. It's for anyone who recognizes themselves in quiet failure.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like slow, observant family portraits where small talk and mundane frictions carry more weight than plot, and where a single night's bickering quietly shows who everyone has become.
Skip it if you need a plot pulling you forward; this is mostly one apartment of people talking, circling old disappointments, and the quiet stretches can drag across 117 minutes.
What it asks of you: Settle in for an unhurried sitting, with long pauses, close quarters and emotional shifts that stay mostly gentle rather than sharp.
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Recommended by
Still Walking, Tokyo Sonata, The Twilight Samurai, Nagasaki: Memories of My Son, Rhapsody in August, The Family Game, Linda Linda Linda, Happy-Go-Lucky, Starlet, My Neighbors the Yamadas, The Taste of Tea, Drive My Car, The Eel, Lemon, Undercurrent, The Land of Hope, Undine, Lilting, So Long, My Son, Reunion, Abuse, Odd Obsession, Midnight Diner