Some of you may have seen his first two features — the teen -
drama / time - travel film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and the techno - apocalyptic dysfunctional family dramedy Summer
Wars — but the director tops himself with his third and latest film Wolf Children, a stunningly beautiful, unabashedly sentimental, and
surprisingly complex story that works as both a coming - of - age film and a study of the trials of being a single mother.
For a movie plagued for months by stories of its troubled production — its original directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, getting the boot in favor of industry stalwart Ron Howard; the overhauling re-shoots that ensued; and the rumored acting coach hired to assist the movie's struggling and potentially miscast star, Alden Ehrenreich, to recount just three fleshy bits of on - set
drama — Solo: A Star
Wars Story is a
surprisingly smooth ride.