The tough and tender Small, Slow But Steady tracks a powerful slow-dawning realisation that even after all your support structures crumble, there can still be something left. Call it spirit, call it resolve – it is unique, yet available to everybody.

Subdued, low-key and unassuming, this Japanese film about a young deaf woman who becomes a professional boxer firmly eschews the traditional sports movie tropes.

You can fully understand her developing melancholy even while she never articulates it to loved ones. The approach also means her rare beaming smiles deliver knockout hits to the heart.

By framing Keiko’s subjective trajectory in a solemn and restrained visual composition, Miyake ensures that emotional flow of the narrative, as brought to life by Kishii, touch the spectator deeply and profoundly.