{"id":665949,"date":"2026-11-03T20:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T20:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/665949\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T20:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T20:38:13","slug":"the-intertwining-review-a-tense-japanese-psychological-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/665949\/","title":{"rendered":"The Intertwining Review: A Tense Japanese Psychological Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Intertwining<\/a>\u201d director Akira Yamamoto was mentored by Kiyoshi Kurosawa<\/a>, and it shows. Yamamoto is one of many Japanese filmmakers to study under the legendary director of \u201cCure\u201d and \u201cTokyo Sonata,\u201d who was a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts from 2005 to 2023. And although he\u2019s not Kurosawa\u2019s most famous pupil \u2014 that would be \u201cAll of a Sudden\u201d\u2018s Ryusuke Hamaguchi<\/a>, whose style is also an influence here \u2014 he has clearly taken many lessons on composition and timing from his former teacher. To this end, Yamamoto\u2019s latest feature takes a politically charged family drama and laces it with restrained, but palpable psychological tension, creating a film<\/a> whose quietest moments are also its most uneasy ones.<\/p>\n

\"'You<\/a> \"Jordan<\/a> <\/p>\n

Yamamoto\u2019s primary tactic for creating this tension is the long take. Shots in this film frequently linger just a few seconds longer than they\u2019re \u201csupposed\u201d to, reflecting the pauses in dialogue scenes where characters choose their words before they speak. Many filmmakers who utilize this tactic like to punctuate these moments with bursts of sudden violence, but aside from the elderly woman collapsing on a city bus who serves as a catalyst for the film\u2019s plot \u2014 filmed in a very Kurosawa-esque long shot, by the way \u2014 Yamamoto contains himself here, too.<\/p>\n

The struggle in \u201cThe Intertwining\u201d is all psychological, as the two women who respond to the medical emergency \u2014 both medical students, as it turns out \u2014 begin to realize that they have a lot in common. Ji-hyun (Jiyoung) is a fifth-year Korean exchange student, although she\u2019s frequently mistaken for Japanese \u2014 as Nakano (Karata Erika) notes with surprise when they formally introduce themselves afterwards. They exchange numbers and hang out a few times, eventually figuring out that not only are their parents both in the hospitality business, but they were born at the same clinic around the same time.<\/p>\n

Ji-hyun\u2019s parents briefly lived in Tokyo before going back to their home country, discouraged by the discrimination against Koreans that\u2019s still pervasive in Japan today. This becomes extremely important later on as Nakano, who\u2019s never felt at home in her family, decides to test her DNA against those of her parents and brother after learning about DNA sequencing in class. Nakano is both shocked and relieved to discover that the parents she grew up with are not her biological mother and father, and her new friend Ji-hyun supports her as she tries to process these feelings. Then a nurse at the clinic gives Nakano an envelope containing the names of her real parents.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, it\u2019s not a coincidence at all that Ji-hyun and Nakano\u2019s parents both sought treatment at the same fertility clinic. Ji-hyun and Nakano were both the product of IVF<\/a>, and their embryos were implanted in their respective mothers on the same day. Except the doctor made a mistake, meaning that Nakano is actually Korean, and Ji-hyun \u2014 who\u2019s also faced prejudice for her ethnicity while living in Japan \u2014 is actually Japanese. The scene where the clinic\u2019s current head tries to explain what went wrong more than 20 years ago contains another of the movie\u2019s rare outbursts, as Nakano\u2019s father angrily confronts the doctor for \u201cputting a Korean embryo into [his] wife.\u201d In his mind, this is the worst betrayal of them all, and the way he prioritizes his family\u2019s honor over his daughter\u2019s happiness is one of the reasons why Nakano feels no guilt about leaving him behind.<\/p>\n

Ji-hyun, on the other hand, loves her family very much. She does not want to become Japanese, and the political undertones of their respective identity crises are one of the film\u2019s most crackling unspoken undercurrents. Ji-hyun pities Nakano, but maintains boundaries between them even after the two go to South Korea to visit Ji-hyun\u2019s warm and supportive family at their picturesque restaurant by the sea. By this point, the bubble of unspoken words between these two women is straining with tension. But Yamamoto is too subtle, and too savvy, of a director to let it burst.<\/p>\n

Instead, we\u2019re left with some challenging questions about identity, and what makes a person who they truly are. Although it\u2019s the central conflict, the mix-up at the clinic is not the only outrageous coincidence in this movie, and \u201cThe Intertwining\u201d could have been even stronger with a slightly tighter narrative focus. Still, it\u2019s a testament to Yamamoto\u2019s filmmaking that these feel less like plot contrivances and more like the invisible reverberations of fate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Intertwining\u201d does require patience and active engagement, both of which are made possible by committed, but controlled performances from Jiyoung and Karata, who also starred in Hamaguchi\u2019s \u201cAsako I & II.\u201d One could easily imagine the premise of this movie as the stuff of Sirkian melodrama. But Yamamoto asks his leads to internalize these big emotions rather than externalize them through his filmmaking, and the controlled intensity shown by all three key players is key to what makes \u201cThe Intertwining\u201d work.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Intertwining\u201d premiered at the 2026 Tokyo International Film Festival<\/a>. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Intertwining\u201d director Akira Yamamoto was mentored by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and it shows. Yamamoto is one of many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,878,85,46,397,1530,299849,1776],"class_list":["post-665949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-movies","tag-reviews","tag-the-intertwining","tag-tokyo-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}