The Rebirth (2007) - full transcript
Coincidence and the aftermath of violence. A man's middle-school daughter has been murdered. His wife is already deceased. He tells a counselor he wants to live in anonymity, working with his hands. He moves away and gets a job in a factory. The woman who is the mother of the killer wants to apologize to the father, although she knows it would change nothing. He refuses to meet. She moves back to her hometown. She works in the kitchen at an inn where the man now lives. No one speaks. He eats alone. He reads in his apartment. She walks to her home and has a sandwich. She keeps her eyes lowered. He drives to work. Does either want to connect? What bond can they establish?
10th Anniversary
A Monkey Town Productions Film
A Masahiro Kobayashi Film
The Rebirth
Why did your daughter
commit the crime?
I don't know.
Is a mother...
supposed to know everything
about her daughter's feelings?
How can I know
what she is thinking?
She's already
a middle school student.
She's an adult.
Didn't you buy her the computer?
Or did she buy it herself?
She said everyone had one.
The year she went
to middle school,
I gave it to her
for her birthday in June.
Even then she said it was too late.
Everyone else had their own computer
from elementary school.
She was embarrassed to be
the only one without one.
Did you know she'd made
her own homepage?
No.
Did you ever see it?
No.
I'm no good at these things.
I don't know how to use them.
Did you see it after the incident?
The police showed me.
What did you think?
Were you shocked when you saw it?
How should I say...
To have been so ignorant
of my daughter's thoughts...
"Knife"... "blood"... etc.
All these words
she would normally never use.
I'll ask you again.
What caused the crime?
I already told you I don't know!
I don't know!
Some people say
the Internet is to blame.
But for what reason
I don't know.
I know the Internet
fosters conjecture about strangers.
They say that we didn't
communicate enough.
That we should have had talked more.
Some say that the nature
of the family itself...
is one reason
for these juvenile crimes.
So now it's the parents' fault?
That's one reason.
Granted, we were poor.
We lived in a municipal apartment.
A single-parent family.
But to say, that's why...
We were no different
from any other family.
We were just
an ordinary mother and daughter.
If you compare us to her friends...
there wasn't a single difference.
So the warped Japanese society...
is the cause of these crimes.
Your daughter is,
of course, the culprit.
But at the same time,
she's the victim.
I don't understand
such complicated things.
I just...
I just want to apologize
to the other child's parents.
I know it can't be fixed
with an apology, but...
I want to apologize.
You've quit the newspaper office.
What are you doing now?
Nothing.
I can't sleep.
Just when I think I'm asleep,
I immediately wake up.
So I just get under
the covers and stay still.
But...
then I want to go to the toilet.
So...
I get up, go to the toilet...
then I go and sit in the kitchen.
The window overlooks a bridge.
On the other side of the bridge...
is the condo
of my daughter's killer's parents.
I made a mistake...
moving to a town built
on reclaimed land.
People live in areas
of separated income.
The town is nowhere near complete.
That's why quarrels occur
between children.
But my wife begged me to live here.
She's a country bumpkin.
I suppose she wanted to live in
a fashionable area in Tokyo.
So, morning becomes night...
and night...
...becomes morning again.
I don't want to eat anything
or drink anything.
Just breathing is painful.
I'd rather be dead.
Maybe I'm possessed by something?
I lost my wife to cancer.
That was a terrible time, too.
It lasted one year.
Battling illness.
The latter half,
I stayed with her all the time.
And then she finally died.
Just when I thought I'd escaped
from hell, this happens.
When the police called me at work...
I was completely stunned.
They said my daughter
had been killed.
Stabbed to death
by one of her classmates.
Who'd believe such a thing?
I thought, what the hell is going on?
The police called and said,
Could you come quickly?
But I couldn't stand up.
My mind went completely blank.
She was 14, you know. 14 years old.
Why did she have to be killed?
Did you ever hear from the
other girl's parents?
Letters... and more letters.
Wanting to meet and apologize.
But I threw them all away.
Yeah, I know
the parents aren't responsible.
On the contrary,
I know they're victims too.
I know it intellectually.
But I can't... I just can't do it.
I don't want to see their faces even.
I know it's tough for them too, but...
...my daughter was killed,
and the media came...
...and the criticism came...
"Why don't I forgive her parents?"
I'm sick of it.
I just want to be left alone, ignored.
I want to go to some other town...
...where nobody will meddle with me.
Some town like that.
If your daughter is released,
will you live with her again?
I have no idea right now.
No idea.
I'm too busy thinking about
my own problems.
I don't live for my daughter.
Maybe I should go back home?
I'm from Hokkaido.
There's no way I can go back.
What will you do
when you leave this town?
Now, I just want to work.
Without thinking.
Manual labor.
One year later
Hokkaido
Yufutsu, Tomakomai City
I know you.
When my daughter was in her
second year at middle school.
I saw you once
at the parents association.
I met you again in this town...
as the mother of the girl
who killed my daughter.
For me now, life without you
is impossible.
But I don't have the capacity
to live with you.
In that case, you and I...
In that case, you and I...
I want to meet him and apologize.
To the father of the victim?
I know an apology
won't fix anything.
But I want to meet him
and apologize!
Can you arrange a meeting?
The culprit's mother
wants to meet you.
Of course, she knows
an apology won't fix anything.
But she'd like to meet you
and apologize.
I won't meet her.
I don't want to see her face even.
Don't you have
any intention of forgiving her?
No.
To Nasho and Systaro
You and me met in this town
When we met, it was fate
From that moment
Time has stopped
Pitter patter
You felt tears in your eyes
Pitter patter
You simmered with passion
Only by loving
Can you live
Only by loving
Can people live
The premonition of love
Shadowed us
The daily grind is like bliss
When I thought
I couldn't go on any more
Pitter patter
I felt tears in my eyes
Pitter patter
I simmered with passion
Only by loving
Can you live
Only by loving
Can people live
You and I met in this town
When we met, it was fate
From that moment
Time has stopped
Pitter patter
You felt tears in your eyes
Pitter patter
You simmered with passion
Only by loving
Can you live
Only by loving
Can people live
A Monkey Town Productions Film
A Masahiro Kobayashi Film
The Rebirth
Why did your daughter
commit the crime?
I don't know.
Is a mother...
supposed to know everything
about her daughter's feelings?
How can I know
what she is thinking?
She's already
a middle school student.
She's an adult.
Didn't you buy her the computer?
Or did she buy it herself?
She said everyone had one.
The year she went
to middle school,
I gave it to her
for her birthday in June.
Even then she said it was too late.
Everyone else had their own computer
from elementary school.
She was embarrassed to be
the only one without one.
Did you know she'd made
her own homepage?
No.
Did you ever see it?
No.
I'm no good at these things.
I don't know how to use them.
Did you see it after the incident?
The police showed me.
What did you think?
Were you shocked when you saw it?
How should I say...
To have been so ignorant
of my daughter's thoughts...
"Knife"... "blood"... etc.
All these words
she would normally never use.
I'll ask you again.
What caused the crime?
I already told you I don't know!
I don't know!
Some people say
the Internet is to blame.
But for what reason
I don't know.
I know the Internet
fosters conjecture about strangers.
They say that we didn't
communicate enough.
That we should have had talked more.
Some say that the nature
of the family itself...
is one reason
for these juvenile crimes.
So now it's the parents' fault?
That's one reason.
Granted, we were poor.
We lived in a municipal apartment.
A single-parent family.
But to say, that's why...
We were no different
from any other family.
We were just
an ordinary mother and daughter.
If you compare us to her friends...
there wasn't a single difference.
So the warped Japanese society...
is the cause of these crimes.
Your daughter is,
of course, the culprit.
But at the same time,
she's the victim.
I don't understand
such complicated things.
I just...
I just want to apologize
to the other child's parents.
I know it can't be fixed
with an apology, but...
I want to apologize.
You've quit the newspaper office.
What are you doing now?
Nothing.
I can't sleep.
Just when I think I'm asleep,
I immediately wake up.
So I just get under
the covers and stay still.
But...
then I want to go to the toilet.
So...
I get up, go to the toilet...
then I go and sit in the kitchen.
The window overlooks a bridge.
On the other side of the bridge...
is the condo
of my daughter's killer's parents.
I made a mistake...
moving to a town built
on reclaimed land.
People live in areas
of separated income.
The town is nowhere near complete.
That's why quarrels occur
between children.
But my wife begged me to live here.
She's a country bumpkin.
I suppose she wanted to live in
a fashionable area in Tokyo.
So, morning becomes night...
and night...
...becomes morning again.
I don't want to eat anything
or drink anything.
Just breathing is painful.
I'd rather be dead.
Maybe I'm possessed by something?
I lost my wife to cancer.
That was a terrible time, too.
It lasted one year.
Battling illness.
The latter half,
I stayed with her all the time.
And then she finally died.
Just when I thought I'd escaped
from hell, this happens.
When the police called me at work...
I was completely stunned.
They said my daughter
had been killed.
Stabbed to death
by one of her classmates.
Who'd believe such a thing?
I thought, what the hell is going on?
The police called and said,
Could you come quickly?
But I couldn't stand up.
My mind went completely blank.
She was 14, you know. 14 years old.
Why did she have to be killed?
Did you ever hear from the
other girl's parents?
Letters... and more letters.
Wanting to meet and apologize.
But I threw them all away.
Yeah, I know
the parents aren't responsible.
On the contrary,
I know they're victims too.
I know it intellectually.
But I can't... I just can't do it.
I don't want to see their faces even.
I know it's tough for them too, but...
...my daughter was killed,
and the media came...
...and the criticism came...
"Why don't I forgive her parents?"
I'm sick of it.
I just want to be left alone, ignored.
I want to go to some other town...
...where nobody will meddle with me.
Some town like that.
If your daughter is released,
will you live with her again?
I have no idea right now.
No idea.
I'm too busy thinking about
my own problems.
I don't live for my daughter.
Maybe I should go back home?
I'm from Hokkaido.
There's no way I can go back.
What will you do
when you leave this town?
Now, I just want to work.
Without thinking.
Manual labor.
One year later
Hokkaido
Yufutsu, Tomakomai City
I know you.
When my daughter was in her
second year at middle school.
I saw you once
at the parents association.
I met you again in this town...
as the mother of the girl
who killed my daughter.
For me now, life without you
is impossible.
But I don't have the capacity
to live with you.
In that case, you and I...
In that case, you and I...
I want to meet him and apologize.
To the father of the victim?
I know an apology
won't fix anything.
But I want to meet him
and apologize!
Can you arrange a meeting?
The culprit's mother
wants to meet you.
Of course, she knows
an apology won't fix anything.
But she'd like to meet you
and apologize.
I won't meet her.
I don't want to see her face even.
Don't you have
any intention of forgiving her?
No.
To Nasho and Systaro
You and me met in this town
When we met, it was fate
From that moment
Time has stopped
Pitter patter
You felt tears in your eyes
Pitter patter
You simmered with passion
Only by loving
Can you live
Only by loving
Can people live
The premonition of love
Shadowed us
The daily grind is like bliss
When I thought
I couldn't go on any more
Pitter patter
I felt tears in my eyes
Pitter patter
I simmered with passion
Only by loving
Can you live
Only by loving
Can people live
You and I met in this town
When we met, it was fate
From that moment
Time has stopped
Pitter patter
You felt tears in your eyes
Pitter patter
You simmered with passion
Only by loving
Can you live
Only by loving
Can people live