A Pale View of Hills by Kei Ishikawa is a beautiful adaptation of Japanese novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel, which is very popular. The film had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, and the story looks at trauma that passes down through generations, memory, and the unspoken distance between mothers and daughters.
Movie Synopsis
The story takes place in London in the 1980s and follows Niki, a young woman of Japanese and British descent, as she goes back to her estranged mother Etsuko’s suburban home after dropping out of college. Niki wants to be a writer, but she’s having trouble with her own goals. She hopes to get inspiration from her mother’s past. But Etsuko, who is quiet and shy, has secrets hidden deep in her memories of Nagasaki after the war.
As days go by, Etsuko begins to talk about parts of a dream she has over and over again. In it, she sees a woman named Sachiko and her daughter Mariko, whom she knew in the 1950s. With her mother’s recollection of that dream, Niki is drawn into a disturbing story of loss with a sense of ambiguity that further blurs the lines between memory and reality. As layers peel back, both women confront painful memories of family tragedy and cultural dislocation.
Watch the teaser
Credits:
- Title: A Pale View of Hills (遠い山なみの光)
- Director & Screenwriter: Kei Ishikawa
- Based on the novel by: Kazuo Ishiguro
- Cast: Suzu Hirose, Fumi Nikaido, Yō Yoshida, Camilla Aiko
- World Premiere: Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival, 15 May 2025
- Genre: Drama
- Country: United Kingdom / Japan
- Language: Japanese, English
- Release Date: September 5, 2025
