The Last Blossom review – a yakuza faces his final reckoning in affecting anime

A talking balsam flower asks an elderley yakuza to weigh up a life of violence and kindness in Baku Kinoshita’s quietly contemplative tale An original story from director Baku Kinoshita and writer Kazuya Konomoto, this is the kind of quiet, contemplative anime feature that rarely gets a theatrical release. Enveloped in the dusk, the film opens in a lonely prison cell, home to the elderly former yakuza Akutsu. Now on his deathbed, he finds an unexpected confidant in … a talking balsam flower. ...

By Phuong Le