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Bookmark this pageStill Walking (2008)
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Movie review
From Time Out London
The tiny changes in human behaviour that occur when faced with loss is a theme that Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda has consistently explored in his films. 1998’s ‘After Life’ speculated on how people come to terms with the loss of their own lives, 2004’s ‘Nobody Knows’ offered a group of children forced to muddle through adolescence without parents and this extraordinarily tender and consoling new ensemble comedy provides a glimpse into the lives of a lower-middle class Yokohama family on the day they come together to observe the anniversary of a loss in the family.It’s a summit of coiled emotion, a rare occasion on which parents, children and grandchildren can awkwardly air grievances while happily munching on sushi, eel and tempura. Despite the fact that every shot is loaded with anxieties about death (of family members, of tradition…), the tone remains warm and ironic. The way Koreeda films – mostly discreet shots of the family’s cramped suburban house – makes most directors look blind to the possibilities of locating ideas in mundane imagery, such as a drawer left slightly open, a butterfly entering the house, or cherry blossom blooming in the garden.
His beautiful dialogue, too, favours gentle naturalism over characters breaking down and blurting out feelings, giving it a subtle universality: we see reflections of people we know and love in these characters. Koreeda’s almost sage-like understanding of what makes modern families tick places him and this wonderful film in the league of Japan’s grand master, Ozu, and you can’t ask for higher praise than that.
Author: David Jenkins
Time Out London Issue 2056: 14-20 January, 2010
User reviews of this film
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- Alan Pavelin said...
- Posted on Jan 14 2010 19:27 Saw this at the 2008 LFF - Utterly superb, nobody should miss it.
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- CRN said...
- Posted on Jan 14 2010 17:18 I can't wait not to see this film.
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Cast & crew
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Cast: Hiroshi Abe, Yoshio Harada, Yui Natsukawa, Kirin Kiki, Shohei Tanaka full cast
Genre(s): Drama
Rated: U
Duration: 114 mins
UK Release: Jan 15 2010
US Release: Aug 28 2009
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