Akiko OKU 大九明子

My Sweet Grappa Remedies

甘いお酒でうがい

Nippon Cinema   ª 

Childless office worker Yoshiko is in her forties and confidently navigates her way through life, accompanied by little drinks and basically without friends. Every day, she shares her feelings and observations on life with her diary. These entries, recited by her voice, accompany the film and its poetic scenes of her day-to-day life, as a gentle and carefully woven story of new love unfolds around her. Through Akiko OKU’s masterful staging and Yasuko MATSUYUKI’s subtle acting, the simple things become remarkable and a few moments soon outline the depth of a whole life. Akiko OKU has been drawing precise portraits of women in Japanese society through her films for years and has been featured at Nippon Connection several times.

甘いお酒でうがい
Amai osake de ugai

Japan 2019

107 minutes

Director
Akiko OKU

Script
Jiro

Cinematography
Natsuyo NAKAMURA

Music
Masaki TAKANO

About Akiko OKU
大九明子

Akiko OKU, born in Yokohama in 1968, studied at Meiji University and at the Film School of Tokyo. Initially working in television, she directed her debut feature IGAITO SHINANAI in 1999. After that, she completed six other feature films, including TOKYO SERENDIPITY in 2007, MONSTER in 2013, and FANTASTIC GIRLS in 2015. Her film TREMBLE ALL YOU WANT premiered at Tokyo International Film Festival in 2017 and was chosen as the best film by audience vote. It went on to be featured at multiple international festivals, amongst them the Nippon Connection Film Festival 2018, where the comedy was screened in presence of the director. Her film MARRIAGE HUNTING BEAUTY was the opening film of the 2019 Nippon Connection Film Festival.