Nobody Knows
I saw this last night. Slowly paced (running time is something like 140 minutes), but I liked a lot about it. I don't know if I could sit through it again, though--what wasn't slowly paced was pretty rough to watch at times (damn--that was some half-assed parenting). It's a measure of the quality of the film that I'm still digesting it and making up my mind about it, I suppose--I like films that lend themselves to that kind of meditation. (Though the woman I went to see it with immediately said, "I'm not sure that movie was any good." On the other hand, she seemed just as troubled by it as I was.)
I also think that, in spite of the translation, there was a little bit of a cultural barrier for me that makes it harder for me to assess the film's sense of realism, or lack thereof. (
).
There's something about the directing style I really liked--the way that moments that would normally be of portentous significance in other movies are tossed into the film in a sort of offhand way (like the moment when you find out that
). I also kind of think the film needed to be that long, in order to show
Still thinking about it myself. You should check it out if it's playing anywhere near you, though.
I saw this last night. Slowly paced (running time is something like 140 minutes), but I liked a lot about it. I don't know if I could sit through it again, though--what wasn't slowly paced was pretty rough to watch at times (damn--that was some half-assed parenting). It's a measure of the quality of the film that I'm still digesting it and making up my mind about it, I suppose--I like films that lend themselves to that kind of meditation. (Though the woman I went to see it with immediately said, "I'm not sure that movie was any good." On the other hand, she seemed just as troubled by it as I was.)
I also think that, in spite of the translation, there was a little bit of a cultural barrier for me that makes it harder for me to assess the film's sense of realism, or lack thereof. (
I find myself asking not just why nobody bothered to check in on the kids after they saw their filthy conditions, but also wondering why the schoolgirl that Akira meets keeps coming back to the apartment to hang out with them
There's something about the directing style I really liked--the way that moments that would normally be of portentous significance in other movies are tossed into the film in a sort of offhand way (like the moment when you find out that
the gas has been shut off in the apartment, or when Yuki dies from falling off the chair
the slow decay of the children's environment.
Still thinking about it myself. You should check it out if it's playing anywhere near you, though.