Brief Synopsis
Saito Tamon (50) is a second-generation performer of rakugo, the traditional Japanese art of storytelling. To avoid being compared to his talented father and master, Kanzo (75), Tamon shuns the traditional stories and performs new, original material only. But Tamon is unpopular with his audience and commands no respect from his peers. His earnings from rakugo amount to only a few thousand yen per month, forcing him to work part-time at night to make ends meet. 
Meanwhile, dementia has forced Kanzo into retirement. Tamon’s mother has also passed away. Living alone with his father, Tamon struggles to provide the increasing amount of care Kanzo needs as his condition deteriorates.  

One day, Hamamoto Kiko (28), a struggling young stand-up comedian, happens to see Tamon's performance at an old theater. She recognizes his original material from an old cassette tape that her mother Yoko (50) used to listen to when Kiko was a child. Acting on a whim, she decides to adapt Tamon’s story into a routine for her stand-up comedy. This chance encounter sets off a chain of events entangling Tamon, Kiko and Yoko, and their lives begin to change.
 
Introduction:
The protagonist of this film is a performer of rakugo, the 300-year-old traditional Japanese art of storytelling, and it was shot on location at one of Tokyo’s most iconic rakugo theaters, Asakusa Engei Hall. Rakugo stories typically feature hopeless, awkward, all-too-human characters, and this film is the endearing collaboration of two very rakugo-esque characters in real-life: third-time director Suzuki Taichi and veteran actor Nobe Tomizo, in the first lead role of his career.
 
Key Cast:Tomizo NOBE, Nagiko TSUJI, Reiko KATAOKA, Tetsu WATANABE
Director・Writer: Taichi SUZUKI
Cinematography: Yohei FUKUDA
Music: Masahiko KURAHORI
Editing: Ayumi MIYAZAKI
Production Design: Kazuyuki NISHIZAWA
Rakugo Supervision: Edataro KATSURA