Based on the novel of the same name by Masuji Ibuse and directed by Shōhei Imamura—a key figure in the Japanese New Wave and an early assistant to Yasujirō Ozu, this film swept the 1990 Japanese Academy Awards.

A perfect song that hits at just the right moment, the play of sunlight through leaves, a fleeting moment of human connection in a vast metropolis: the wonders of everyday life come into breath­taking focus in this profoundly moving film by Wim Wenders.