Harmonium

Harmonium (淵に立つ, 2016) is a Japanese psychological drama by Kôji Fukada that you can watch online on iFILM. Toshio, who runs a small metalwork shop, is visited one morning by Yasaka — an old acquaintance fresh out of prison, played with eerie calm by Tadanobu Asano.

Toshio gives him work and a room under the family roof, never asking his wife first. She keeps her distance at the start, then watches Yasaka patiently teach her young daughter to play the harmonium, and her guard drops. That trust is a mistake. The household's peace rests on something left unsaid, and the visitor knows exactly what it is. Fukada lets the dread grow in silence, with no score to warn you, until a quiet family story turns into a slow reckoning. It took the Jury Prize in Cannes' Un Certain Regard, and the reason to watch is how ordinary domestic life curdles into something menacing without a single cheap jolt. One for fans of cold, precise Japanese cinema. Stream Harmonium (2016) online on iFILM.