Taku Aoyagi

Shot with a mix of smartphones and GoPros, filmmaker Taku Aoyagi takes us on his daily bike rides as an Uber Eats worker. But pedaling on Tokyo’s deserted streets, delivering boba tea to cloistered condos, he starts to wonder… what was it that Ken Loach said about the Uberization of society? And what does gig-work offer an unemployed young person with student debt?

Disgusted by the eugenicist and ableist Sagamihara massacre of 2016, emerging documentarian Taku Aoyagi offers a radiant film about Mirai Farm, a social welfare center he frequented as a child in Yamanashi, a city in the shadow of Mount Fuji. Through gestures, Aoyagi introduces us to the different individuals who work at Mirai, as well as their distinct talents and personalities. In the process, he constructs an exemplary documentary about life with a disability, one that does not treat those filmed as “subjects,” but rather as friends with whom to occupy their own space, alongside those who care and encourage us to see the world with kindness.

Hidehiko, also known as He-kun, is 38 years old and lives with his mother in the provincial city of Ichikawamisato, famous for its paper production and spectacular fireworks. He spends each day wandering the streets, doing odd jobs here and there. Taku Aoyagi brings us the story of a very normal, but also very special, person.