There’s a deep melancholy emanating from “The Last Blossom,” Baku Kinoshita‘s anime feature, playing in competition at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival.
Kinoshita’s directorial debut tells the story of Minoru Akutsu, a former yakuza dying in a solitary prison cell after a life sentence. His only company is a potted balsam flower. The filmmaker puts a whimsical twist on a rather dark tale by having that flower converse with Akutsu, who tells it the story of his life before imprisonment. The flower is animated with expressivity and liveliness, speaking to Akutsu and questioning why he didn’t take certain paths, as if his own conscience were talking back to
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