In despair from a series of tragedies brought on by her affair with a married man, Kiwako (Hiromi Nagasaku) abducts her lover’s 6-month-old baby and raises the child as her own for four years before getting caught. Now a college-aged adult laden with her own relationship issues, the formerly abducted child Erina (Mao Inoue) confronts her repressed past with Kiwako to discover the truth about herself. A huge hit in Japan that never saw a stateside theatrical release, Rebirth swept the 2012 Japan Academy Film Prize in every major category, racking up 13 nominations and 11 wins, including Picture of the Year.
“A long, complex, highly nuanced meller that plays like an aestheticized, post-feminist Stella Dallas.” —Variety
In Japanese with English subtitles