Japan - 2008 - 35 mm, 114 min.
By chronicling a day in the life of a traditional Japanese family, Kore-eda’s Still Walking hints at a greater truth about their existence, and all the bittersweet intricacies it involves. As they do every year, a daughter and son visit their aged parents to commemorate the accidental drowning of their oldest brother 15 years ago. Second son Ryota, resents his parents for favouring his long-dead brother. His father, a retired doctor, is bitter about Ryota’s decision not to follow him into the medical profession, while also disapproving of his marriage to a widowed single mom. The latter feeling is shared by Ryota’s mother, who, in turn, is also unhappy with her daughter. Bright and dark at the same time, Kore-eda has offered one of the best portraits about the complexity of the family. In its stunningly simplicity, Still Walking ranks alongside Ozu’s classics and also refers to some of Naomi Kawase’s films, another contemporary director with who he shares a common obsession with becoming older, family, generation gaps and the tradition-modernity contrasts.
This movie is screened only in original version with Spanish subtitles