Movie trailers that give away key plot points are frequent targets of audience ire. But a poster that telegraphs what may well be the film’s ending is rare.
However, I don’t think that “Ito,” Satoko Yokohama’s heartwarming drama set in her native Aomori Prefecture, is much harmed by the poster of its title protagonist: Playing a shamisen in a maid’s costume as she jumps for joy, she seems to be signaling a peppy musical.
Which “Ito” is not. Based on “Itomichi,” a 2011 novel by Osamu Koshigaya, the film instead tells an often-told story in the seishun eiga (youth film) genre: A socially awkward teenage girl rebels against her family and what might be called her destiny.