suggap

is a 2004 Japanese drama film based on the 1988 Sugamo child abandonment case. The film is written, produced, directed and edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda, and it stars Yuya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, and Hiei Kimura.

Plot

A young mother and her four children move into a small apartment in Tokyo. Only the eldest, Akira, is known to the landlord; he and his mother Keiko smuggle the youngest boy and girl, Shigeru and Yuki, into the apartment inside suitcases. The elder sister, Kyōko, comes separately by train. Each of the children has a different father. Their mother does not allow them to go to school or be seen by others, and only Akira is allowed to go outside.

Awards