Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageWild Berries (2002)
Director: Miwa Nishikawa
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Another dysfunctional family movie from Japan, more radical than Morita's seminal Family Game but a deal less provocative than Miike's Visitor Q. The Akechi family is falling apart behind a facade of normalcy: dad (Hiraizumi) was fired from his job ages ago, but hasn't told the others and has built up huge debts; mum (Otani) has had enough of caring for her senile father-in-law and suddenly decides to let him die; daughter (Tsumiki) is planning to marry and oblivious to the can of worms around her. The one success in the family is the black sheep son Shuji (comedian Miyasako, making an impressive debut in film), a skilful con-man who poses as a mourner at funerals and makes off with the donations. When he shows up at grandpa's funeral and rejoins the family, will he rescue it or finish it off for good? First time director Nishikawa does well with her cast and knows how to orchestrate family tensions; the somewhat crude suspense of the closing scenes is her only real misjudgment. Kore-eda produced because she was his assistant on After Life and Distance.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Miwa Nishikawa
Producer: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Cast: Hiroyuki Miyasako, Miho Tsumiki, Sei Hiraizumi, Naoko Otani, Toru Tezuka, Mieko Ezawa full cast
Duration: 108 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now