Since the success of Confession, author Minato Kanae's literary works have become very popular among film and television writers due to her dark, twisted views of human nature. The latest Minato work to arrive on the big screen is the short story "Ni-jyu Nian Go no Shyukudai" from the anthology Oufuku Shokan, about a librarian who returns to the small northern town she once worked in as a teacher to visit her old students. A Chorus of Angels stars timeless acting legend Yoshinaga Sayuri as the teacher, and her now-adult students are played by a cast of talented young actors, including Miyazaki Aoi (In His Chart), Mitsushima Hikari (Love Exposure), Koike Eiko (Penance), Mirai Moriyama (The Drudgery Train) and Matsuda Ryuhei (Phone Call to the Bar). The adaptation by director Sakamoto Junji (Children of the Dark, Zatoichi The Last) features gorgeous landscapes of snowy Hokkaido shot by veteran cinematographer Kimura Daisuku and was one of top nominees at the Japan Academy Prize.
Haru (Yoshinaga Sayuri) was a junior high school teacher in a remote island town in Hokkaido. After an accident that killed one of her students, Haru moved to Tokyo and became a librarian. Twenty years later, Haru finds a photo album from those days and decides to pay a visit to the town. She discovers that her old students, who are now in their late 20s, are still living in town. The students still resent Haru for abandoning them, opening up old wounds that will reveal the truth behind what happened twenty years ago.
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