Her Father, My Lover (2015) – Kenji Yamauchi.

'Pure love is abnormal!'

The close relationship between two female companions is gradually put under increasing stress as one of them Maya (Wako Ando) begins to amorously obsess over bestie Taeko's (Yukino Kishi) father. (Mitsuro Fukikoshi) A richly layered, joyfully eccentric romantic drama with an exceptional text, compelling performances, and a deliciously twisted sense of humour. Mismatched lovers have frequently provided fertile cinematic grist, the avatar being Harold & Maude, and in this instance, Her Father, My Love is a winningly off-beat Maya to December romance! While Maya is often accused of being a sicko, she seems absolutely earnest, the fact that she acts so obliviously to the chaos unfolding around her singular choice of life partner was ultimately pretty adorable. The refined film-making, and wholly naturalistic performances are exquisite, the frequent awkwardness of life are acutely rendered with remarkable sensitivity, and director Yamauchi's choice to let the more emotionally salient moments play out in real-time allowed for greater emotional verisimilitude. I was fully expecting a left-handed climax, but it concluded dramatically in a considerably more skewed fashion than I could have predicted! While I overuse the term 'gem', Kenji Yamauchi's immersive Her Father, My Love truly is a burnished jewel of quirky Japanese cinema.