The Great Passage, Yuya Ishii (Japan, 2013)

(Fune wo amu). The dictionary isn’t usually the stuff of great drama, but in this quirky, heartwarming film, it’s at the center of some of life’s most powerful transitions. Shy and intensely awkward, struggling book salesman Majime can barely muster the confidence to speak. When he’s recruited to work on an ambitious new dictionary, his world finally begins to bloom. Set in 1995, Japan’s 2013 Oscar submission takes us back to a largely pre-digital world. As Majime diligently collects and checks thousands of entries with pencil and paper, we begin to see how words are the building blocks of human connection: their shared definitions are the only way to know what others are feeling. As Majime gradually enters the slipstream of language, he forges an unlikely friendship with his slick coworker Nishioka and possibly something deeper with Kaguya, his landlady’s daughter. The dictionary, also titled The Great Passage, comes to stand not only for the transfer of meaning from one person to another, but for any number of passages: from youth to maturity, silence to speech, and life to death.

—Sharon Mizota

• Written by Kensaku Watanabe. Photographed by Junichi Fujisawa. With Ryuhei Matsuda, Aoi Miyazaki, Joe Odagiri, Haru Kuroki. (133 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, DCP)