{ "id": "epdsaf6pjc", "slug": "sway", "title": "Sway (ゆれる)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films", "label": "Biographical and historical drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "label": "Released 2006 to 2009", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020: Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Sway (ゆれる, Yureru) is a 2006 Japanese psychological drama, Miwa Nishikawa's second feature after Snake Ichigo, screened at Cannes Directors' Fortnight. Brothers Takeru (Odagiri Joe) and Minoru (Kagawa Teruyuki) are torn apart when childhood friend Chieko falls from a suspension bridge and Minoru is tried for murder.", "snippet": "Sway (ゆれる, Yureru) is a 2006 Japanese psychological drama, Miwa Nishikawa's second feature after Snake Ichigo, screened at Cannes Directors' Fortnight. Brothers Takeru (Odagiri Joe) and Minoru (Kagawa Teruyuki) are torn apart when childhood friend Chieko falls from a suspension bridge and Minoru is tried for murder.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "markdown": "# Sway (ゆれる)\n\n**Sway** (ゆれる) is a 2006 Japanese psychological drama directed and written by Miwa Nishikawa, in which a fall from a suspension bridge turns a family visit into a murder trial and forces two estranged brothers to confront what each of them saw, and what each of them is. It premiered in the Directors' Fortnight (監督週間) of the 59th Cannes International Film Festival and opened in Japan on July 8, 2006.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writer | Miwa Nishikawa, her second feature after the 2002 debut *Snake Ichigo* (蛇イチゴ)[2](https://www.omc.co.jp/film/outline/039.html) |\n| Release | July 8, 2006, Japan; 119 minutes; distributed by Cinecanon[1](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/) |\n| Festival | Official selection, Directors' Fortnight, 59th Cannes International Film Festival (2006)[1](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/) |\n| Main cast | Joe Odagiri as Takeru Hayakawa, Teruyuki Kagawa as Minoru Hayakawa, Yoko Maki as Chieko Kawabata, Masato Ibu as Isamu Hayakawa[3](https://jfdb.jp/title/416) |\n| Awards | 2nd place, Kinema Junpo Best Ten of Japanese films; Kinema Junpo screenplay award and supporting actor award (Kagawa)[4](https://www.bunbukubun.com/works/464/) |\n| Setting | Yamanashi Prefecture, at the brothers' family home and a nearby gorge[5](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/103748) |\n| Novelization | Nishikawa's own novel version, published by Poplar, became a candidate for the Mishima Yukio Prize[6](https://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/gengobunka/bulletins/archive/pdf/2018/27nishikawa.pdf) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nTakeru Hayakawa (Joe Odagiri) is a successful, busy photographer in Tokyo. He returns to his hometown for the first-year memorial service (一周忌) of his mother, a rite he had skipped at the funeral itself.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/) • [7](https://hokapi2.seesaa.net/article/200810article_14.html) His older brother Minoru (Teruyuki Kagawa) stayed behind, running the family gas station and living with their father Isamu (Masato Ibu). At the station the brothers meet their childhood friend Chieko Kawabata (Yoko Maki), who once had a relationship with Takeru and now works there part-time.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/)\n\nThe three drive to a gorge they knew as children. Takeru wanders off to take photographs and sees Minoru and Chieko on the suspension bridge from a distance; moments later Chieko falls into the rapids and dies. Minoru was the only person beside her.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/) • [4](https://www.bunbukubun.com/works/464/) The death is first treated as an accident, but Minoru declares that he killed her, and the case goes to trial.[8](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0020749) As the court proceedings unfold, Minoru shows sides of himself Takeru has never seen, and Takeru's certainty about his brother, about Chieko, and about his own memory begins to shift.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/)\n\nThe film keeps the question open on several levels at once: was it an accident or a crime, what did Takeru actually witness from far away, and what the truth even consists of once the brothers' competing accounts and resentments are laid over the same event.[2](https://www.omc.co.jp/film/outline/039.html) In the courtroom the prosecutor presses Minoru with the fact that Chieko had slept with another man the day before her death, and the brothers' testimony to each other becomes as consequential as their testimony to the court.[9](https://note.com/cinephiliejp/n/nccf5cb0bd016)\n\n## Production and background\n\nNishikawa made her directorial debut with her own original screenplay *Snake Ichigo* (2002), which drew wide attention, and *Sway* is her second feature.[2](https://www.omc.co.jp/film/outline/039.html) She again took a sibling relationship as her subject: where the debut used a brother-and-sister pairing with comic elements, *Sway* sets two brothers in serious opposition, a difference critics described as giving the film a gravity close to [Greek tragedy](https://www.edgepedia.org/greek-tragedy).[10](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/critic/)\n\nThe film was planned by Masahiro Yasuda and [Hirokazu Kore-eda](https://www.edgepedia.org/hirokazu-kore-eda), produced by Kiichi Kumagai, and shot by Hiyoshi Takase, with music by the band Cauliflowers and editing by Ryuji Miyajima.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/) After shooting, Nishikawa novelized her own screenplay, her first novel, published by Poplar; the book later became a candidate for the [Mishima Yukio Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/mishima-yukio-prize).[6](https://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/gengobunka/bulletins/archive/pdf/2018/27nishikawa.pdf)\n\n## Reception\n\n*Sway* was the only Japanese film officially selected for the Directors' Fortnight at the 2006 Cannes festival, and it went on to win numerous domestic awards.[6](https://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/gengobunka/bulletins/archive/pdf/2018/27nishikawa.pdf) In the 80th Kinema Junpo Best Ten it placed second among Japanese films, and it took the magazine's screenplay award for Nishikawa and supporting actor award for Kagawa.[4](https://www.bunbukubun.com/works/464/) Both lead actors also received multiple acting prizes, Odagiri for the freewheeling younger brother and Kagawa for the earnest brother who inherited the family business.[2](https://www.omc.co.jp/film/outline/039.html)\n\nCritics singled out the two leads' interplay; Cinema Today noted that the two actors reportedly hit it off during shooting, and praised the film's portrait of murky emotion, ego, and the possibility of rescue from despair.[11](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0004491) Reviewers have also highlighted the film's treatment of memory and subjectivity: the flashbacks are layered accounts that are not all subjective, and the ambiguity is constructed rather than vague.[7](https://hokapi2.seesaa.net/article/200810article_14.html) The climax makes pointed use of 8 mm film and a projector.[5](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/103748)\n\nThe film has remained in circulation: it is held in the collection program of the National Film Archive of Japan,[12](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/wp-content/uploads/NFAJ-Annual-Report_2024.pdf) and as of 2026 it streams in Japan on U-NEXT with rental availability on other services.[8](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0020749)\n\n## References\n\n1. [ゆれる：作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/)\n2. [ゆれる｜プログラム一覧｜優秀映画鑑賞推進事業, オーエムシー](https://www.omc.co.jp/film/outline/039.html)\n3. [JFDB - ゆれる (Yureru / SWAY)](https://jfdb.jp/title/416)\n4. [ゆれる, 株式会社分福](https://www.bunbukubun.com/works/464/)\n5. [ゆれる, WOWOWオンライン](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/103748)\n6. [西川美和監督、自作を語る, 明治学院大学言語文化研究所紀要](https://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/gengobunka/bulletins/archive/pdf/2018/27nishikawa.pdf)\n7. [映画評「ゆれる」, プロフェッサー・オカピーの部屋](https://hokapi2.seesaa.net/article/200810article_14.html)\n8. [ゆれる, U-NEXT](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0020749)\n9. [『ゆれる』今更レビュー, note](https://note.com/cinephiliejp/n/nccf5cb0bd016)\n10. [ゆれる：映画評論・批評, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/1759/critic/)\n11. [ゆれる (2006)：キャスト・あらすじ・作品情報, シネマトゥデイ](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0004491)\n12. [National Film Archive of Japan, Annual Report 2024](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/wp-content/uploads/NFAJ-Annual-Report_2024.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/sway", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/sway.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Sway (ゆれる)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/sway. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Sway (ゆれる)](https://www.edgepedia.org/sway)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/sway](https://www.edgepedia.org/sway). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Sway (ゆれる)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/sway. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Sway is a 2006 Japanese psychological drama, Miwa Nishikawa's second feature after Snake Ichigo, screened at Cannes Directors' Fortnight." }