Sakura Andō

In Godzilla Minus One (2023), Sakura Ando’s Sumiko Ota feeds a baby without softening her face. She has already spat at Shikishima for returning when her own children did not, and the kindness does not cancel the accusation. Takashi Yamazaki’s film often has its people announce what they feel and then announce it again. Ando gives us enough in that unchanged expression to make the repetition elsewhere seem unnecessary. Her scenes are the strongest among the humans because she lets anger persist while the practical work of caring goes on.

Her early notice came with a supporting part in Sion Sono’s Love Exposure (2008). She took leading roles in 100 Yen Love and 0.5 mm (both 2014), before finding wider recognition with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters (2018). That film gives her time to make a caring adult troubling, rather than requiring us to decide quickly what sort of person we are watching. She worked with Kore-eda again in Monster (2023).

As Nobuyo Shibata in Shoplifters, she makes affection persuasive without making it proof that the household’s arrangements are good for its children. Lily Franky’s Osamu is likeable company, and both actors let us understand why someone might want to stay. We were moved and unsettled by Ando’s warmth, because it never quite reassured us about the care Nobuyo offered. Haruomi Hosono’s music keeps the film gentle without encouraging us to find its theft and neglect charming. The children’s performances matter too: Kairi Jo and Miyu Sasaki prevent the adults’ affection from settling the question for us.

The films do not always show the same restraint. Shoplifters occasionally lingers after its point has landed, and Godzilla Minus One has too many repeated declarations of feeling. We recommend both, but would start with Shoplifters for the time it gives Ando. Give Nobuyo a while before deciding whether you would want her looking after anyone.