They Say Nothing Stays the Same (Japanese: ある船頭の話, Hepburn: Aru Sendō no Hanashi) is a 2019 drama film directed by Joe Odagiri and stars Akira Emoto.
In the debut directorial feature by actor Joe Odagiri, the film follows an old ferryman in a remote Meiji era community.
His placid and cyclical life is disturbed by the construction of the nearby bridge, and transformed by saving a girl floating in the water.
Shot by Christopher Doyle and the debut film music feature by Tigran Hamasyan.
Toichi hears rumors that in a village upstream, a family has been decapitated and killed, and a girl has been taken away.
The girl turns out to be alive but spends all the day staring at the surface of the river, not saying a word.
His dying wish is to dedicate his body to the forest, so Toichi takes a boat in the middle of the night to carry it there.
When Toichi crosses the bridge and returns to the hut, he finds Genzo killed by slitting his throat.