Bring Him Down To a Portable Size (2025)

Ryota Nakano | Japan, France, China | 2025 | 127 min | PG Selfish and a burden all his life, Riko’s brother suddenly dies. She has four days before seeing him off on his final journey. Riko, a celebrated novelist, reluctantly travels to northeastern Japan after the sudden death of her brother, whom she had long dismissed as selfish and childish. Filled with resentment, she sets about clearing his house, convinced he remains a source of trouble even in death. In the company of his ex-wife, daughter and son, Riko begins to see glimpses of a man whose lamentable actions concealed chronic illness and his quiet devotion to his children. His constant pleas for help, once seen as weakness, are revealed instead as small acts of bravery. Through humour and grief, the film raises the question of how well we can ever know another person, and how support, when freely given, can ripple forward in unseen ways.