River Returns

It is the summer of 1958 in a riverside village in Japan that is frequently battered by typhoons. In it lives a boy named Yūcha along with his sick mother, his father, and his grandmother.

The family leads a simple life protected by the mountain and the river that runs through the valley. Whenever a storm strikes, they feel fear, and an ancient legend is heard in the village. Long ago, a girl named Ōyo lived in a deep pool; with a broken heart, she drowned in the pool deep in the mountains. 

Her pain and resentment did not die with her; they remained floating in the water. Since then, rumors say that every few decades, the tears the girl shed turn into floods that sweep through the valley.

Awaiting a nearby major typhoon, Yūcha decides to embark on a journey to the heart of the mountain. He travels paths that even adults fear to cross with the goal of appeasing the spirit of Ōyo. 

It becomes a physical and spiritual adventure: he ventures into the mountain, forests, and rivers; while discovering the memories and sufferings trapped by the environment. He traces a poetic sensitivity that links the human with the natural and the visible with the spiritual.

''River Returns'' explores myths, fables, and legends. The bond of humanity with the intangible and the importance of looking to the past to heal the present.