Family Bond (2020)

Singer-songwriter Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi marks a singular return to film after a 20-year break with this rib-tickling, heartwarming tale of a master builder named Shingo. A fiercely individualistic type whose greatest work may be his own chiseled physique, Shingo sees no problem with chasing skirt even as he remains a devoted husband and father. But after he forms an attachment to a fatherless boy - or is it to the boy's mother? - and starts to build a house for them, his disapproving apprentice steps in to stop the selfish/selfless folly. Director Gonno Hajime channels Yamada Yoji in this skillfully crafted, lively story of family, friendship and woodworking.