Brother in explosive tribute to loving sister

Dedications come in many forms: books, films, songs and even buildings. But few things can compare to the visual extravaganza of a dedicatory fireworks display.

Television director Masahiro Kunimoto makes his film debut with the Japanese melodrama Fireworks from the Heart.

Hana (Mitsuki Tanimura, below left with Kengo Kora) is fighting leukaemia in a hospital in Katakai. The northern Japanese town is home to one of the world's biggest annual fireworks displays.

Returning home after six months of treatment, she finds that her older brother, Taro (Kora), is a changed person. In her absence, he has become a social recluse who avoids people.

Taro refuses even to leave his room, so Hana tries to force him to 'open up' by joining a youth club which organises the fireworks festival. Just when Taro begins to find his way back into society, Hana's health worsens and is readmitted to hospital.

Taro knows that Hana loves the fireworks festival. He decides to pay homage to his ailing sister by producing a fireworks display in her honour.

Fireworks from the Heart opens on June 9