When I purchased this movie from Amazon, then it was with a high level of expectation, as it had been getting great reviews just about anywhere you looked. And it was supposed to be such a great movie from these reviews.
And now having seen the movie, I can't really claim to see the hype about this movie. Now, I am not saying that the movie is bad or boring, far from it. It is actually an enjoyable movie, however it just wasn't all that spectacular.
You should note that this movie trots ahead at a fairly plain pace, without anything overly excitingly happening throughout the entire course of the movie. The story, as you might already know, is about a group of four children being left alone to fend for themselves in a small apartment in Japan, as their mother leaves them to "go to work" and doesn't come back; simply abandoning her children.
What makes the movie work is the purity and perfection in the acting performances put on by the four children in the lead roles. They really impressed me, and it was worth watching the movie for. The story itself become a secondary aspect to me, as it wasn't all that interesting. And at points the director, Hirokazu Koreeda, simply skips over some of the topics without delving too far into exploring them, and that made certain parts of the movie come off as rushed and not given the proper attention or screen time.
The characters in the movie were nicely detailed, and again nicely portrayed by the children hired to play these roles. It is characters that you immediately form a sort of bond and sympathy for, and you actually do ride along with them on their individual victories, triumphs and failures.
"Nobody Knows" is a nice movie, but personally I didn't get the hype around it, as I have seen far better movies. Oh, and a fair warning, note that the movie is rather long, at 140 minutes, or at least it seems long and to go on for a very long time because of the speed the movie progresses at.
And now having seen the movie, I can't really claim to see the hype about this movie. Now, I am not saying that the movie is bad or boring, far from it. It is actually an enjoyable movie, however it just wasn't all that spectacular.
You should note that this movie trots ahead at a fairly plain pace, without anything overly excitingly happening throughout the entire course of the movie. The story, as you might already know, is about a group of four children being left alone to fend for themselves in a small apartment in Japan, as their mother leaves them to "go to work" and doesn't come back; simply abandoning her children.
What makes the movie work is the purity and perfection in the acting performances put on by the four children in the lead roles. They really impressed me, and it was worth watching the movie for. The story itself become a secondary aspect to me, as it wasn't all that interesting. And at points the director, Hirokazu Koreeda, simply skips over some of the topics without delving too far into exploring them, and that made certain parts of the movie come off as rushed and not given the proper attention or screen time.
The characters in the movie were nicely detailed, and again nicely portrayed by the children hired to play these roles. It is characters that you immediately form a sort of bond and sympathy for, and you actually do ride along with them on their individual victories, triumphs and failures.
"Nobody Knows" is a nice movie, but personally I didn't get the hype around it, as I have seen far better movies. Oh, and a fair warning, note that the movie is rather long, at 140 minutes, or at least it seems long and to go on for a very long time because of the speed the movie progresses at.