The Patriarch

A mother-daughter vacation abroad takes a devastating turn when Gali is arrested for drug possession. Refusing to accept the charges, her mother Orna risks everything on a quest for freedom—only to get entangled in a web of Gali's secrets.

Yasuko Matsuyuki plays the part of Nao Suzuhara, an elementary school teacher. When she realizes that one of the female students is receiving abuse from her mother, Nao's maternal instincts kick in, and she impulsively decides to bring the girl into her own care. Serving as a substitute mother, Nao takes the child on a trip from Hokkaido to Tokyo, and the two experience various events together along the way.

Life is ever-delightful — and ever-challenging — for a group of friends in their twilight years as they rediscover themselves through love and family.

Drug trafficking was invented by a state: the United Kingdom. In the 19th century, the British Crown flooded China with opium to replenish its coffers. From the very beginning, opium, heroin and cocaine became political instruments in the hands of states. Great powers, pharmaceutical companies, banks and intelligence services all played a role in the spread of drugs and in the emergence of the world’s largest criminal organizations. From the Opium Wars to the birth of the French Connection, from the hippie years to the rise of the great drug barons, from Escobar to El Chapo, from the mountains of Afghanistan to Wall Street, a political history of drugs takes shape.

Two young chefs pit their wits and culinary skills against one another. But as they begin their battle, might rivalry lose out to love?