Mitsuko is in her ninth month of pregnancy. Her parents (serial failed entrepreneurs) think that she's in California with the baby's GI father, and she's happy to leave them in ignorance. But she's actually back in Tokyo, broke and friendless. So she has her flat cleared, gets into a taxi she can't pay for, and follows a cloud back to the little working-class alley where she grew up. The place is pretty run-down and depressed these days, but Mitsuko's can-do, bull-in-a-china-shop attitude soon shakes everyone up. There's much to be done. The little diner needs more customers, the alley's elderly woman owner needs carers, the tongue-tied man who could never propose to the widow in the coffee-shop needs a push... So much to do, so little time before Mitsuko goes into labour.
Mitsuko Delivers is the latest film from acclaimed 28-year-old director Yuya Ishii. Mitsuko Delivers was featured in the 37th Rotterdam International Film Festival and the 32nd Hong Kong International Film Festival – an exceptional honour for a fledgling director. At the Hong Kong Asia Film Awards, Ishii was again recognized and awarded the inaugural Edward Yang New Talent Award. Back home in Japan, Ishii won the Pia Film Festival Grand Prix in 2007 for Mukidashi Nippon (Bare-Assed Japan) and followed up with the delightful Sawako Decides (Kawa no soko kara konnichi wa) (2010) for which he won the Best Director at the Blue Ribbon Awards and the Best New Director Award at the Yokohama Film Festival. The fim stars Riisa Naka, winner of this year's Japan Academy Award for Best New Actress. Her film credits include Toki wo Kakeru Shojo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) and Zebraman – Zebra City no Gyakushuu” (Zebraman: Vengeful Zebra City) as well as a number of TV commercials.
Mitsuko Delivers will be released on UK DVD on 9th July 2012 by Third Window Films at the RRP of £14.99.
