Still the Water

On the Japanese island of Amami, a young couple searches for their place in a world that feels both intimate and strange. Kaito, who grows up without his father who moved to Tokyo after his birth, and Kyoko, his girlfriend, lean on each other as they try to belong. The rhythms of island life, the sea and wind, along with daily routines, frame their conversations about future plans and responsibility. Kyoko must come to terms with her mother's terminal illness, adding a quiet weight to ordinary moments. Meanwhile, Kaito faces the ache of absence and the lure of bigger cities, torn between closeness and a wider horizon. Their bond becomes a compass in a world that resists easy answers altogether.

Directed by Naomi Kawase, Still the Water arrived in 2014 as a drama set on Amami Oshima. It features Nijiro Murakami, Junko Abe, and Miyuki Matsuda, with Kawase drawing on the island's landscapes to craft a lyrical, intimate piece rooted in memory.

Critics praised the film for its sensory approach and the way it channels emotion through water and landscape. It explores belonging, responsibility, and the pull between small town life and broader horizons, using sparse dialogue and long takes to let feelings surface without heavy handed exposition and memory across generations.

While not a global blockbuster, Still the Water contributes to Naomi Kawase's reputation for intimate, place rooted cinema. Viewers respond to its luminous ocean imagery and the understated performances, which linger after the credits and invite reflection on memory, lineage, and the sea as a living character and memory.

Box office details for Still the Water are not widely documented here, reflecting its status as a restrained art house release rather than a mainstream hit, and it attracted only modest attention beyond festival circuits and art house audiences.