Acclaimed Japanese director Sho Miyake has arrived in the United States with two feature films ahead of their U.S. Release.
Miyake brought Modest, Slow But Steady and Two Seasons, Two Strangers to American audiences, with the former now available on demand and the latter debuting in theaters.
Both films explore themes of human connection and isolation, drawing from naturalistic portrayals of characters navigating social discomfort.
In Small, Slow But Steady, Miyake follows Keiko, a deaf boxer portrayed by Yukino Kishii, as she pursues her first competitive victory even as her trainer’s declining health disrupts her routine.
The film balances athletic ambition with quiet emotional strain, reflecting Miyake’s interest in characters whose internal struggles gradually distance them from society.
Two Seasons, Two Strangers opens and closes with screenwriter Li, played by Shim Eun-kyung, writing at a desk, while interweaving adaptations of manga by Yoshiharu Tsuge — A View of the Seaside and Mr. Ben and His Igloo — as nested narratives.
This structural approach, described as a “film within a film” or “manga within a manga,” contributed to Miyake winning the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival.
Miyake said he identifies with characters who are clumsy but honest, contrasting them with his own tendency to be “too slick” and self-deceptive.
He views such honesty as aspirational, both in his characters and in his personal approach to storytelling.
Reflecting on Small, Slow But Steady, Miyake said the film’s title reflects his filmmaking philosophy: small, incremental efforts can accumulate into meaningful change over time.
He noted that while he once believed change required sudden breakthroughs, he now sees societal shifts as the result of sustained, subtle actions.
What themes connect Miyake’s two films?
Both films center on characters experiencing social unease and the difficulty of forming genuine human connections, with isolation and quiet resilience as recurring motifs.
How did Miyake’s structural approach in Two Seasons, Two Strangers earn recognition?
The film’s use of nested stories based on Yoshiharu Tsuge’s manga — presented as a film within a film — was praised for its innovation and contributed to Miyake winning the Golden Leopard at Locarno.
