Teaching the Nightingale

Overview

Teruko, a Japanese woman in her mid-thirties, is struggling with a secret dilemma, but she cannot tell anyone, not even Larry, an openly and happily gay Australian who she thinks of as her best friend. When she meets Larry for lunch one day in an upscale Tokyo coffee shop, she is reaching a crisis point. As Larry begins to sense that Teruko is holding something back, we see what happened to her the previous weekend when she went hiking in the mountains. The two days she spent in the mountains led Teruko to a turning point in another significant relationship and a decision to move on, but now she feels trapped and hopeless. In a moment of weakness she asks Larry to do something for her that will bring their friendship to a turning point.