The Whispering Star

The Whispering Star (Hisohiso Boshi, 2015) is a Japanese science-fiction drama from Sion Sono you can watch online on iFILM. Far into the future, humans have dwindled to a scattered few, and a soft-spoken female android spends her days ferrying their parcels across the galaxy.

Her ship drifts for years on end, so there is nothing but time. She brews tea, hangs the laundry, listens to a clock tick — and inside that quiet routine she turns over the question of what it actually means to be alive. Sono, better known for loud and violent films, works against type here: hushed black-and-white frames, long stillnesses, almost no plot. Much of it was shot in regions left empty by the 2011 disaster, with local residents on screen, which gives the bare landscapes a weight no effect could fake. Megumi Kagurazaka anchors it as the android. Slow, meditative and patient, it's sci-fi for anyone who'll trade action for mood. Stream The Whispering Star online on iFILM.