Nobody Knows

This Japanese familial drama centers around four siblings, headed by 12-year-old Akira. Their mother is a sympathetic, though immature twit who seems scarcely more capable than her two oldest children, she just happens to have the advantage (or disadvantage) of age. She makes all but Akira stay in the house at all times. She works, maybe, and they don't go to school. One day she leaves on a trip, gives them some money and returns a few weeks later, just after the money has run out. Later she leaves again, and when she will return, I suppose nobody knows, because she doesn't. The children learn to take care of themselves, despite the fact that the water, gas, and electricity has been turned off. It's a coming of age story featuring some magnificent performances from the mostly prepubescent cast. Watching Akira try to hold things together as they gradually grow more and more desperate, is a heartbreaking sight. Director, Hirokazu Koreeda doesn't pull at the heart-strings, because he recognizes the potency of the material. He keeps it straightforward and un-manipulative. Events unfold slowly and naturally, leaving one with a sense of everyday life in an unusual situation.