Okaeri (Welcome Home) (1995)

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Makoto Shinozaki makes his feature film debut with this understated character study about a young bride's descent into madness. A former classical pianist Yuriko (Miho Uemura) married her husband Takashi (played by Takeshi Kitano regular Susumu Terajima) a year previous and has found the transition… More Makoto Shinozaki makes his feature film debut with this understated character study about a young bride's descent into madness. A former classical pianist Yuriko (Miho Uemura) married her husband Takashi (played by Takeshi Kitano regular Susumu Terajima) a year previous and has found the transition into married life difficult. Having given up her once promising career, Yuriko's present job of transcribing tapes at home makes her feel cut off from the outside world. Without a child, she has few ways to interact with her neighbors. Feeling isolated and losing sense of herself, Yuriko's only release is her daily strolls. Increasingly, she begins to see herself less on a leisurely saunter than on a mission to "patrol" the neighborhood against the nefarious dealing of the shadowy "organization." Takashi, a well-meaning if self-involved man, doesn't really notice anything wrong until she suddenly runs away from him on the street and steals a car. The police gently suggest that she be institutionalized. He rejects that notion but quietly harbors his own doubts. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi