A series of semi-autobiographical sketches, The Boat in the Evening evokes intensely poetic scenes with cinematic beauty: a colony of cranes arrive at their mating ground to play out a delicate ritual drama; a boy and his father clear a road together in a pitiless snowstorm; a drowning man floats down river towards rescue.

A series of semi-autobiographical sketches, The Boat in the Evening evokes intensely poetic scenes with cinematic beauty: a colony of cranes arrive at their mating ground to play out a delicate ritual drama; a boy and his father clear a road together in a pitiless snowstorm; a drowning man floats down river towards rescue.