Bring Him Down to a Portable Size

Official Selection, 2025 Busan International Film Festival

Based on a popular autobiographical essay, the gentle family dramedy BRING HIM DOWN TO A PORTABLE SIZE captures the whirlwind days after Riko learns that her estranged brother has died. She’s unmoved, but her husband and sons push her to help with the funeral, where she will reunite with her brother’s ex-wife and kids and confront her memories of a pesky sibling who always seemed to get his way, even in death.

It helps that her brother, seen in flashbacks and fantastical asides, is played by the ever-charismatic Joe Odagiri, whose goofy grin can melt even the most hardened victims of his scattershot approach to life. And as always, we’re in great hands with director Ryota Nakano, whose light touch to melodrama finds ways to gather family, to unearth joy, and to mend.

–Brian Hu