The Boy and the Heron

Why tonight?

• ◆In Japanese — subtitles on.

The story

While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."

• loss of loved one
• world war ii
• supernatural
• education
• coming of age
• spirituality
• poverty
• teenage boy
• parallel world
• troubled childhood