{"id":487926,"date":"2026-05-16T16:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/487926\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T16:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:03:10","slug":"sheep-in-the-box-review-hirokazu-koreedas-fairytale-study-of-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/487926\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Sheep In The Box\u2019 Review: Hirokazu Koreeda’s Fairytale Study Of Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWho do the dead belong to? This strange but thoughtful question is incredibly on brand for Japan\u2019s Hirokazu Koreeda<\/a>, and he explores it in one of his purest, most dream-like films to date. Built around three extraordinary performances, including one from first-timer Kuwaki Rumi, it\u2019s a light yet somehow very profound study of grief that deals with death in an unusual but surprisingly cathartic way. Inevitably, family life features strongly, as it often does in Koreeda\u2019s movies, but the fantastical elements of the plot make this more of a piece with 1998\u2019s After Life than his recent run from Shoplifters to Monster.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe setting is \u201cthe not-too-distant future\u201d, and a package of art supplies is being delivered by drone to Otone Komoto (Haruka Ayase), an artist and architect living in an affluent waterside suburb with her husband Kensuke (Daigo), a carpenter. Also in the post is an invitation from a company called REBirth, with the message \u201cDon\u2019t forget me.\u201d The family cat has been missing for week, compounding the agony of losing her seven-year-old son Kakeru in a freak accident two years before, but Otone puts it to one side and continues with her latest project, designing a bespoke home for a fussy married couple.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Komotos have been selected by REBirth to take advantage of their special offer to people who\u2019ve lost loved ones to accidents or crimes \u2014 \u201cA complimentary rental of our latest edition humanoid\u201d. Kensuke thinks the offer is fishy and is instinctively suspicious of the company\u2019s motives (\u201cThey\u2019re hyenas,\u201d he says, \u201ccashing in on misfortune\u201d). But Otone wants to hear them out, which is how they end up at REBirth\u2019s shiny modernist offices, watching slick promo films advertising their cutting-edge fusion of AI and robotics.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe sales pitch is effective, especially when Otone encounters one of the company\u2019s 3,000 humanoid robots \u2014 a child \u2014 in the cafeteria. \u201cCould you tell?\u201d she asks Kensuke, wide-eyed. He couldn\u2019t, and that night Otone begins sorting through photographs, old clothes and family memorabilia to aid with Kensuke\u2019s resurrection. Within days, a van arrives, and Kakeru is in the passenger seat \u2014 where he would always sit \u2014 in the clothes Otone has picked out for him. \u201cI\u2019m home,\u201d he says, and Otone\u2019s heart melts.<\/p>\n

\n\tKakeru\u2019s \u201cunboxing\u201d is beautifully handled, with Otone running through the rules and instructions necessary for his care and upkeep, setting his intelligence level at age seven and learning how to charge his battery. Otone is besotted, but Kensuke is not. \u201cIt\u2019s a Tamagotchi,\u201d he scowls. \u201cIt\u2019s a Roomba.\u201d He even tries to keep the child-bot at arm\u2019s length, telling, \u201cI\u2019m not your papa. Call me mister.\u201d The tension this sets up is a gentle Ozu-style conflict, with the forward-thinking minded Otone all in and the digital dinosaur Kensuke firmly on the fence. But once Kakeru appears, it can only a matter of time before he accepts the child as his own.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut is he really his child? Koreeda goes to interesting places with his premise, refusing the Bad Seed route that an AI child might invite \u2014 instead, the director indulges the possibility that Kakeru can be good for the Komotos, especially for Kensuke. By the end, it is clear that Koreeda has taken the stuff of dystopian cyberpunk nightmares and turned it into an elegant, wistful fairytale, using elements as diverse as Pinocchio, Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry\u2019s The Little Prince and the Bible story (is it an accident that Kensuke is a carpenter?) \u2014 along with Yuta Bandoh\u2019s ethereal soundtrack and Ry\u00fbto Kond\u00f4\u2019s stunning visuals \u2014 to fashion a beautiful allegory in which all the main characters are reborn.<\/p>\n

\n\tEveryone here is on top of their game, but special mention must made of Ayase; her work here is extraordinary. It will be fascinating to see what she does next.<\/p>\n

\n\tTitle:<\/strong> Sheep In The Box<\/a>
Festival:<\/strong> Cannes<\/a> (Competition)
Director\/screenwriter:<\/strong> Hirokazu Koreeda
Cast:<\/strong> Haruka Ayase, Daigo, Kuwaki Rimu
Distributor:<\/strong> Neon
Running time:<\/strong> 2 hrs 6 mins<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who do the dead belong to? This strange but thoughtful question is incredibly on brand for Japan\u2019s Hirokazu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[10404,11519,18,117,212959,19,17,327,1142,212960],"class_list":{"0":"post-487926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-cannes","9":"tag-cannes-film-festival","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-hirokazu-koreeda","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-movies","16":"tag-review","17":"tag-sheep-in-the-box"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116585103617069498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}