Strengths:
+ A really heartbreaking story about an elderly couple, and their children & grandchildren who don't really care about them.
+ The whole film has a powerful bittersweet mood. If you are into that sort of thing, you will love it.
+ The grandparents are very cute and nice people. You just want them to be your grandparents.
+ Unique cinematography. The camera is always at a low height, and almost never moves. It feels like you are there with the characters, sitting in the next room on a tatami.
Weaknesses:
Conclusion:
Ask any snob, they will tell you, this is one of the best films ever. Its not only touching, deep and well made, but its also Japanese, more than 50 years old, black-n-white, sloooow, and not popular with the masses, because apparently, these things count as positive.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Japanese (Kurosawa), slow (Stalker, 2001) movies, or movies that are confined to a few interior places (12 Angry Men). And I think this is a very good movie. It just doesn't have enough content other than its mood, to hold up as well as some other old classics.
Still, I say, give it a watch. But I warn you, this is minimalist cinema.
7/10
+ A really heartbreaking story about an elderly couple, and their children & grandchildren who don't really care about them.
+ The whole film has a powerful bittersweet mood. If you are into that sort of thing, you will love it.
+ The grandparents are very cute and nice people. You just want them to be your grandparents.
+ Unique cinematography. The camera is always at a low height, and almost never moves. It feels like you are there with the characters, sitting in the next room on a tatami.
Weaknesses:
- This is not a great drama...there is not enough conflict, character development, dialogues, and even less turns in the story.
- I didn't find the characters layered. What you see from them in the first 20-30 minutes of the movie is pretty much what will get form them later on. It becomes kinda predictable.
- The cinematography is unique, and interesting at first (just ask any film snob), but its not enough to carry a movie. This is not 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Conclusion:
Ask any snob, they will tell you, this is one of the best films ever. Its not only touching, deep and well made, but its also Japanese, more than 50 years old, black-n-white, sloooow, and not popular with the masses, because apparently, these things count as positive.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Japanese (Kurosawa), slow (Stalker, 2001) movies, or movies that are confined to a few interior places (12 Angry Men). And I think this is a very good movie. It just doesn't have enough content other than its mood, to hold up as well as some other old classics.
Still, I say, give it a watch. But I warn you, this is minimalist cinema.
7/10