I Wish

The message of Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s new film, I Wish, can be summed up as follows: Despite our best efforts and wishes, the world isn’t how we’d like it to be. Just as in Kore-Eda’s 2004 film Nobody Knows, children who are alone and dealing with a difficult situation are the primary focus. In this case, two brothers struggle with the separation of their parents. The older brother, 12-year old Koichi (Koki Maeda), lives with his mother and retired grandparents in the southern region of Kyushu, Japan, in the shadow of an active volcano. His younger brother Ryunosuke (Ohshiro Maeda) lives...  read more

Still Walking (DVD Review)

Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda Cinematographer: Yutaka Yamasaki Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You, Kazuya Takahashi Studio/Runtime: Criterion/114 mins. In every sense of the word except one, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking is a classic. The film elegantly covers the one-day reunion of the Yokoyama family on the 15th anniversary of the death of the family’s oldest son. As is the tradition in this sort of picture, the reunion is bittersweet, with everyone attempting to play the affectionate roles they’re supposed to, while being unable to get past the anger and difficulties of the past. It’s a story...  read more