A Silent Voice

The story

In primary school, Shoya Ishida made life miserable for Shoko Nishimiya, a new classmate who is deaf, until she changed schools and he became the outcast. Years later, isolated and ready to give up, he learns sign language and seeks her out. The film follows the slow, awkward business of trying to be a different person around people who remember who you were.

Why watch it

Yamada frames conversations through feet, hands and water rather than faces, and the X marks over the faces of people Shoya cannot look at are a simple, devastating device.

A scene to pause on. Feeding the koi from the bridge – the recurring place where the two of them can be together without having to say much.