Film Festival 09 - Still Walking
Still Walking
Aruitemo aruitemo, Japan 2008, 114m
Director: Koreeda Hirokazu
Festivals: Toronto, San Sebastian, Vancouver, Pusan, London 2008;
San Francisco 2009
This quietly wondrous new film from the director of Nobody Knows
and After Life demonstrates his mastery of a distinctily Japanese
form, the 'home drama', savouring the balance of bitter and sweet
in family life - just as it is and not as it maybe ought to be. -
BG. "Kore-eda& depict[s] with subtle grace the interplay of
affection and resentment among an extended, uniquely dysfunctional
family. Over the course of a languorous summer afternoon, elderly
parents host their two children - boisterous spouses and offspring
in tow - for a commemoration of beloved son and sibling Junpei's
tragic death 15 years earlier& With its perfect performances
and quiet build-up of fleeting pleasures - the flight of a yellow
butterfly, the sizzle of frying tempura - Still Walking resonates
long after twilight descends upon the Yokoyama clan, whom viewers
will love - and begrudge - as their own." - Steven Jenkins, San
Francisco Film Festival
In Japanese with English subtitles
www.aruitemo.com
