The Cheese and The Worms (2005) Kato Haruyo

The director lives in a small rural town with her dying mother and old grandmother. The serene eye of the camera depicts her mother’s fight with illness side by side with casual daily exchange with her brother’s family next door. Through interspersed images of her mother, the warmth of the family and their love for her is slowly and gently nurtured. Face to face with the all too real death of her mother, the director takes a hard look at life and death, preserving each fragile moment on film. Slowly but steadily, the feel of life’s delicacy emerges. Before long an angel descends to gaze on us all.