The Friends (New 4K Restoration)
Opens September 5, 2025
Three young boys form an unlikely friendship with a lonely old man and help him restore his house and neglected garden during the summer. New 4K restoration.
It’s the dog days of summer vacation. Up to no good, a group of three wily young friends discover a decrepit house and the old coot who lives there all alone. They begin to spy on him, expecting to find his corpse when he dies. But soon, as they learn the sad story behind his present wretchedness, the boys develop a touching bond with the old-timer. They even help replant his overgrown garden. Shinji Somai’s follow-up to his acclaimed Moving is a comic spectacle of movement and play and a stirring contemplation on time’s ravages and delights. Evoking other preteen anarchist masterpieces like Typhoon Club and P.P. Rider, the film is another testament to Somai’s singular ability to enter into the unruly world of children, using his liberated long takes to stir up the energies of a raucous ensemble of first-time performers.
- Original Language Title: Natsu no niwa
- Director: Shinji Somai
- Principal Cast: Rentarô Mikuni, Naoki Sakat, Yasutaka Oh, Ken'ichi Makino
- Country: Japan
- Year: 1994
- Running Time: 113 min.
- Producer: Kei Ijichi, Masahiro Yasuda, Hiroyuki Fujikado, Etsuhiro Katô
- Screenplay: Kazumi Yumoto, Yôzô Tanaka
- Cinematographers: Noboru Shinoda
- Music: Sergio Assad
- Language: Japanese
- Has Subtitles: Yes