TIFF 2025: Renoir Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Recent Japanese cinema tends to focus on coming-of-age stories, most notably, the works of director Hirokazu Kore-eda, including Monster and Nobody Knows. Since then, a new voice in Japanese cinema has risen to contribute along these lines in Chie Hayakawa, a director well known for her debut feature, Plan 75, which earned a Camera d’Or Special Mention at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. In her debut, Hayakawa uses the premise of a parallel reality for a commentary on public policy regarding the aging of the senior population in Japan. In her sophomore effort, Renoir, Hayakawa upgrades from the Un Certain Regard to the Cannes competition, the most acclaimed section at any film festival globally. Contrary to her debut effort, she points her camera at infancy, the blooming of life. Her film tells the story of Fuki (Suzuki), an 11-year-old girl whose father is terminally ill, and her mother is a busy workaholic. Seeking ways of coping with the inevitability of death, she does so through essays that scared her teachers and professors. In spite of this, Fuki found friends in others within her social circle, helping her to deal with the most trying time of her life.

In this sense, Renoir is a film about grief. It follows the agonizing moments of watching the death of a loved one. Hayakawa, who also penned the script, draws inspiration from her personal history; her father had cancer. Consequently, the film has a nostalgic and realistic glimpse at the past, set in 1987, during the Japanese economic bubble, alluding to the societal moment where everyone felt stuck, exactly like Fuki is feeling. At the beginning of her puberty and blooming, she experiences death coming near her, and the overwork journey of her mother. The story’s set-up provides an opportunity to showcase Suzuki’s talents, stealing the show as a girl who is both at the early stage of grief and maturity. Her sympathetic smile and soulless look at times provide the depth necessary for this suffering girl.

However, despite the fascinating elements of this coming-of-age story, Hayakawa’s tepid directing fails to bring personality to a highly personal story. In a bland effort, the director invests in moments and experiences from the lead, who has multiple scenes on her own, reflecting on pivotal moments in her life. Yet, the meditative state of the film is not as fascinating as the singular scenes that compose a slice-of-life story, demonstrating different instances of Fuki’s journey. Therefore, the film feels disjointed from the varied circumstances – the father and his treatment, Fuki and her discovery, and the mother and her tiring routine. Unfortunately, as a result, Suzuki’s performance gets lost among a dull output of personal experience.

Consequently, with Renoir, writer-director Chie Hayakawa arrives at the prestigious film circuit with a bland effort, whose biggest strength is the strong performance of an energetic Yui Suzuki. That being said, that performance is not enough to deliver a less dull film.

still courtesy of TIFF

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Pedro Lima

Brazilian film writer. He is also a producer and executive producer for Zariah Filmes. Member of the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA), International Documentary Association (IDA), and Gotham and Media Film Institute.