A girl and an otter circle each other in a field while the world fills with garbage. Neither speaks the other's language. That silence is the whole film. The otter doesn't perform cuteness and the girl doesn't perform understanding, they just exist near each other while civilization collapses around them, quiet and stubborn. What breaks your heart is how little needs to happen for a moment to matter.
A girl out walking in the fields is caught up by a Japanese river otter. What starts as a chance meeting turns into a struggle: the two keep trying to understand each other, and every attempt falls short. All the while, humanity's garbage falls from the sky around them. Kawauso is a film about two very different beings reaching for one another while human refuse comes down on all sides.
