Still Walking
Japan, 2008 (Club)
Dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda
A family drama about grown children visiting their elderly parents, which unfolds over one summer day. And it gets the family dynamic exactly right.
Three generations of a middle-class Japanese family gather under the grandparents' roof to commemorate the tragic death of the eldest son, who drowned in an accident fifteen years ago. And, inevitably, personal issues come to the surface.
But the film rarely feels gloomy; it hums too much with the buzz of life. Characters stream in and out of Kore-eda’s fixed frames during mealtimes, and sounds of cicadas and crickets often suffuse the soundtrack and provide a calming counterpoint to the bustle of activity. And for every instance of prickly family politics, a countering scene of hopeful clarity and tenderness appears.
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