Josee, the Tiger and the Fish

Plot

Tsuneo, a university student with a part-time job witnesses a pram rolling down the road, while taking his boss's dog for a walk. Upon inspecting the pram, Tsuneo sees a young girl about his age holding a knife. She swings the knife at him and misses, mistaking him for the person who pushed her pram down the road. Josee's grandmother meets up with them, and they walk back to her home, where Josee cooks them a meal. Tsuneo comes to visit Josee on a regular basis in hopes of her making him food, and eventually develops feelings for her. After a conflict between Tsuneo and Josee, they stop seeing each other for a while, until Tsuneo during a job interview finds out that Josee's grandmother has died recently. He abruptly leaves the interview to go see Josee. Josee lets him in, and they have tea together. After Tsuneo shows disagreement with something Josee tells him she has done, Josee tells Tsuneo to leave. When Tsuneo proceeds to leave, Josee embraces him, and asks him to stay with her forever, to which he calmly agrees. They live together for a few months before Tsuneo breaks up with Josee. After leaving Josee for the last time, Tsuneo meets up with his ex-girlfriend Kanae, and they walk together. Tsuneo suddenly starts crying when he realizes he might never see Josee again.

Cast

Awards

For the film, Inudō was given the Minister of Education New Director Award for Fine Art, and Satoshi Tsumabuki won best actor awards from Kinema Junpo and from the Hochi Film Awards. The film was selected as the fourth best Japanese film of the year in the Kinema Junpo poll of film critics.