Our Little Sister

After learning about Hirokazu Koreeda in class, I decided to watch one of his films. Our Little Sister is available to purchase digitally on Amazon and was more easily available compared to some of his other recent films. The story is of three young women who are sisters. They meet their young half sister after their father dies and they attend his funeral service. The younger sister lives with her step mother, and the oldest sibling decides to invite her to move in with them. The movie follows the lives of the four girls living together and dealing with relationships within the family, and with boyfriends and family friends. I enjoyed the film, but I am not sure that it applies to my AP World History classes. If I were to select clips of the film to use in class, I would select the short scenes depicting a shrine for the grandparents in their home. The sisters often kneel at the shrine, ring a bell, light a candle/incense of some sort, and bow. Students often struggle to understand ancestor veneration, and I think these scenes can show them how families remember their ancestors.