STAFFORD FILM THEATRE: A Pale View of Hills

Kei Ishikawa / Japan/UK 2025 / 123min, cert 12A / Partly subtitled

In this atmospheric adaptation of Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel, A Pale View of Hills drifts between memory and imagination as Etsuko, now living in England, reflects on her strained relationship with daughter Niki and the shadow of her older daughter Keiko.

Her recollections return to post-war Nagasaki and her enigmatic friend Sachiko, whose presence becomes increasingly unsettling.

Lush, meditative, and quietly gripping, the film blends psychological mystery with lyrical visuals, drawing us into a world where the past is never quite what it seems and remembering becomes its own act of reckoning.

“Drifting through the uncertain space between memory and history – a beautifully restrained film” The Upcoming