The story of a prodigal son (or less commonly, daughter) returning home to the countryside after a failed attempt at life in the big city is a staple of Japanese films. And the welcome from the locals, beginning with parents and siblings, is often chilly for a variety of reasons, from envy to long-standing enmities.
In “Mending Cracks,” actor-director Kazuki Nagaya’s earnest but patchy debut feature, the prodigal child is Miki (Hisao Kurozumi) who returns to the unnamed provincial town of his youth to be with his older brother, Mamoru (Nagaya), for the New Year’s holiday.
The stolid, diligent Mamoru took over his father’s ancient craft of kintsugi — repairing broken pottery with lacquer that, mixed with gold powder or other materials, artfully highlights the cracks rather than trying to hide them. And he enjoys a steady flow of business, despite using what he admits to prospective clients are modern shortcuts to traditional methods.
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