The best Nijiro Murakami’s movies of 2020

The story of a would-be actor, his larger-than-life classmate and their friends. Unfolding their past and present, Sasaki in My Mind looks head-on at adolescent sparkle and the pathos of bygone days.

Shota Iwamatsu is a young man, who dreams of becoming an actor. He teaches stage play at a nursing home for the elderly. Due to an incident, he flees with Takara Yamashita, who also works at the same nursing home.

Toko grew up unloved by her mother Mizuho who continues to adore her deceased son. She lives alone in an apartment the electricity has been cut off and the trash is piling up. One late night, Toko enters a gloomy building in order to escape from a threatening stalker, Tomita. There she finds a handgun. She brings it back home and confirms it is loaded with four bullets. One day, the family living next door who have already been enduring poverty and violence end up murdering a man. Toko helps them bury the man's body, shooting it with the handgun. Toko becomes captivated by the gun itself. She is further entangled in the true circumstances of the incident due to the detective searching for the handgun and a suspicious man Kazunari who knows a secret about the handgun. Toko tries to throw herself into the whirlpool but then the lid is blown off her "past."