Maboroshi
Directed by	Hirokazu Kore-eda
Screenplay by	Yoshihisa Ogita
Based on	Maboroshi no Hikari by Teru Miyamoto
Produced by	Naoe Gozu
Starring	Makiko Esumi Tadanobu Asano Akira Emoto Sayaka Yoshino Takashi Naito
Cinematography	Masao Nakabori
Edited by	Tomoyo Ōshima
Music by	Chen Ming-chang
Distributed by	Milestone Films
Release dates	1995 (1995) (Venice Film Festival) March 21, 1997 (1997-03-21) (Japan)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Maborosi, known in Japan as Maboroshi no Hikari (Japanese: 幻の光, literally "phantasmic light", but best translated as 'a trick of the light'), is a 1995 Japanese drama film by director Hirokazu Kore-eda starring Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano, and Takashi Naito. It is based on a novel by Teru Miyamoto.

The film won a Golden Osella Award for Best Cinematography at the 1995 Venice Film Festival.

Plot

Yumiko (Esumi) and Ikuo (Asano) are a young Osaka couple who have a new baby. One day Ikuo is walking along the railway tracks and is hit and killed by a train. It seems that he may have done this deliberately yet there is no apparent motive. A few years pass. Yumiko agrees to an arranged marriage with a widower, Tamio (Naitō), and she and Yuichi (her son, now played by Gohki Kashima) move to Tamio's house in a rustic village on the Sea of Japan coast.

A drunken spat over a bell Yumiko had given Ikuo just before he died causes Yumiko and Tamio to discuss their strong emotions for their lost loves. Shortly after, Yumiko follows a funeral procession and lingers at the crematorium, until Tamio arrives by car to pick her up, at which point she says she just wants to know why Ikuo killed himself. Tamio suggests that, like the will o' the wisps his father used to see, perhaps something just drew him away from life.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, Maborosi has a perfect approval rating of 100% based on 24 reviews, with an average score of 8.1/10.^[1] On Metacritic, the film is scored 92 out of a 100, based on 8 reviews.^[2] Critic Roger Ebert praised the film, noting its "astonishing beauty and sadness" and the influence of Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu.^[3]