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HAW

By Isshin INUDO

SPAFAX UK - as BUYER REP

Drama - Completed 2022

A heartwarming story between a lame man and a dog named "Haw" because it cannot bark properly due to cordotomy. Tamio becomes a foster parent of the dog
by chance. Having no interest in animals originally, Haw is becoming everything of Tamio’s life. One day, Haw suddenly disappears…

- Year of production
- 2022
- Genres
- Drama
- Countries
- JAPAN
- Languages
- JAPANESE
- Budget
- 1 - 3 M$
- Duration
- 118 mn
- Director(s)
- Isshin INUDO
- Writer(s)
- Hiroshi SAITO
- Cast
- Kei TANAKA, Elaiza IKEDA
- Producer(s)
- Keiichi HASHIMOTO (TOEI COMPANY, LTD.)
- Synopsis
- Tamio Akanishi is a hapless public servant who has just hit the low point of his life having been dumped by his fiancée. He spends his days living alone in a big house he had bought for a married life that never materialized. At the recommendation of his concerned boss, he adopts a large white dog that had been abandoned by a previous owner who had mistreated him. The dog can only eke out a raspy whisper due to having had his vocal cords removed. Tamio names the extremely loving and trusting dog “Haw” for the sound he makes, and thus begins the rapturously joyful life of a man and his dog.
  
  Like everything else in life, Tamio is unsure at first how to care for Haw, but they quickly identify in each other kindred spirits and develop a bond of inseparability, and life couldn’t be better for the two of them.
  
  But then one day, Haw suddenly disappears. Tamio employs every means possible searching for him until he receives report of a large white dog that had been killed in a traffic accident, and gives up the search.
  
  But in fact, Haw is alive having been mistakenly transported to the northern reaches of Honshu in Aomori Prefecture. Haw, hearing the voice of his beloved master, Tamio, sets out on a 798-kilometer journey back to Yokohama with the intention of being reunited with his master. Tamio struggles to resume life without Haw, but is helped by the encouragement and support of a colleague, Momoko Adachi. Together, they take solace in each other’s sadness.
  
  Meanwhile, Haw is meeting all manner of people in his journey home; people plagued by loss, tragedy and loneliness. There is Mai, a junior high school girl who moved from Fukushima and was bullied as “radioactive;” and Shizu, an elderly woman who lost her beloved husband of many years and now runs their umbrella shop in a mostly shuttered shop district. And there is Megumi, a young victim of domestic abuse who now lives in a monastery. All have emotional wounds and broken hearts that Haw tries to heal.
  
  Much time passes for Haw and gradually the voice of Tamio and his memories of him begin to grow faint, though they never leave him. Haw is determined to push forward in hopes of being reunited with his beloved master and friend before it’s too late. Can Haw reunite with his favorite Tamio? And what is the most painful and gentle ending in movie history?