Director Nobuhiro Yamashita has a knack for weaving enjoyable tales without having to forcefully push any emotional buttons or amp up conflicts to typical theatrical levels. In his breakout indie hit Linda Linda Linda he accomplished this with an incredibly accurate portrayal of what high school is like, with every minor setback and success magnified to levels that seem to be exclusive to that time in one’s life. In A Gentle Breeze in the Village, most of the turmoil takes place only in the overtly sensitive main character’s head. For the people closest to her, who remain blissfully unaware of the panicky nature of her inner monologue, things couldn’t be better in their quaint little town.

That town is located in a remote area of Shimane Prefecture, where one school covers the educational needs of the six of the children that live there, ranging in ages from 6 to 15. Because of the tight-knit nature of the school, the arrival of a new 8th grader named Hiromi Osawa (Masaki Okada) is quite a big deal. Hiromi was recently uprooted from his life in Tokyo when his mom was forced to move back home, and the locals have a tendency to quietly gossip about such things, but the simple fact that he lived in a big city like Tokyo is awe-inspiring enough for fellow 15-year-old Soyo Migita (Kaho) and her classmates. However, Soyo sours on Hiromi in an instant when he casually points out that her hands smell of pee. His observation is sadly true, considering she had just cleaned up after serial-peeing first-grader Sachiko. But how dare he be so blunt? Thus, with a momentary glare of appalled surprise, she silently decides that he is now the enemy and all people from Tokyo are jerks.

Unfortunately, the other kids don’t seem to be onboard with her newly-devised Hiromi hatred plan, so her random grumbled insults are quickly brushed off as they show their new schoolmate around the town. As it turns out, Soyo isn’t really capable of holding a grudge very long herself; when she gets her foot caught on the railroad track, Hiromi saves her in the nick of time and instantly redeems himself for the previous indiscretion. And, in a moment of weakness, she even ignores Sachiko’s pleas for yet-another bathroom break in order to walk home with him instead.

The next day Soyo finds out that Sachiko stayed home from school due to a bladder infection. Obviously she blames herself, and we learn a little more about her nature as she spends the whole day worrying about it. She even blows off the chance to go shopping with Hiromi to visit Sachiko after school. The entire walk there she sinks deeper and deeper into depression, racked with self-imposed guilt about the pain helpless little Sachiko must be going through. Expecting to find a bed-ridden and tormented little girl cursing her name when she enters the room, Soyo instead looks down to find Sachiko happily clinging to her and smiling. It’s just one of many examples of Soyo’s oversensitivity to other people’s feelings. She can’t help but think herself as a cold-hearted shrew whenever she makes one of her trademark faux pas, even if nobody else holds them against her. Another actress may have let this personality trait spiral into melodramatic tedium, but Kaho has a genuine, likable quality that gives you no choice but to root for her.

Throughout the rest of the film, Hiromi and Soyo’s relationship veers ever so slightly in the direction of young love without it ever really becoming a love story. Soyo eventually gets her first kiss, but she still has more love in her heart for her old school building than she could possibly muster for any boy—at least yet. She also experiences Tokyo with him for the first time, but ultimately discovers that it’s no match for her small town life.

Aside from the lovely scenery of rural Shimane, the greatest charm of this movie is how relatable the characters are. Instead of simply presenting Soyo as a neurotic teen, Yamashita finds clever ways to allow the audience to see events as she sees them, at times even exaggerating some of the characters’ actions and reactions to that end. An extra uncomfortable glare here and there usually does the trick, and suddenly we’re as hyper-empathetic as she is—only to find out things are never quite as bad as they seem through the eyes of a 15-year-old girl. Several more tense situations arise before all is said and done, but they’re all neatly resolved in genuinely sweet ways, making this an incredibly easy movie to watch (and re-watch). Few films can match up with this level of cinematic serenity. Highly recommended.

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Tags: a gentle breeze in the village, aya watanabe, erisa yanagi, hiromasa hirosue, kaho, koichi sato, masaki okada, nobuhiro yamashita, saya miyazawa, shoko fujimura, small town, yui natsukawa