★★★★☆ Anyone even vaguely familiar with Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda will know of his astute ability to excavate the emotions at the core of family life. His tenth feature, I Wish (Kiseki, 2011), feels a lot like a follow-up to Nobody Knows (2004) in which he tells of a young boy who cares for his siblings after their mother apparently deserts them. Here, he casts real-life brothers Koki and Ohshirô Maeda as Koichi and Ryunosuke who are split up after their parents separate. When Koichi overhears the plans for a new bullet train, he becomes convinced of the rumour that when the two trains pass each other, a raw bolt of energy will manifest and grant wishes.
The first act is very mindful and deliberate. Koichi ponders the significance of the erupted volcano that steals the horizon, asking why everyone is so calm when ash is falling from the sky. He quietly attends...
The first act is very mindful and deliberate. Koichi ponders the significance of the erupted volcano that steals the horizon, asking why everyone is so calm when ash is falling from the sky. He quietly attends...
- 5/27/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Celebrated Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda delighted international audiences once again this year with I Wish (Kiseki, 2011), a sweet and endlessly touching tale of two young brothers separated by their parent's amicable divorce. To celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray rerelease of Kore-eda's latest endeavour on Monday 27 May, we've kindly been provided with Three Blu-ray copies of the enchanting I Wish to give away to our readers, courtesy of our good friends at UK distributor Arrow Films. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.
Stoic, grounded 12-year-old Koichi (Koki Maeda) lives dutifully in coastal Kagoshima with his mother and grandparents, while 10-year-old tearaway Ryu (Ohshirô Maeda) is living it up with his deadbeat musician dad in urban Kyushu. Meanwhile, the Kyushu train line connecting these two cities is...
Stoic, grounded 12-year-old Koichi (Koki Maeda) lives dutifully in coastal Kagoshima with his mother and grandparents, while 10-year-old tearaway Ryu (Ohshirô Maeda) is living it up with his deadbeat musician dad in urban Kyushu. Meanwhile, the Kyushu train line connecting these two cities is...
- 5/24/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Forget all those phoney Oscar-bait films – this complex, delicate drama about two young boys living through their parents' split is the real deal, and deeply satisfying
• Watch Peter on this week's Guardian Film Show
One of the year's best films has arrived quietly, unnoticed by the awards-season cheerleaders, but with its delicacy and complexity, it puts the Oscar-bait to shame. Hirokazu Koreeda's I Wish has taken two years to come to the UK. It has been more than worth the wait. Like his earlier movie Still Walking, this is a deeply considered Japanese family drama in the tradition of Ozu, with echoes of Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-liang – moving, sometimes heartbreakingly sad, often mysterious. The film is about the powerful imperative of family unity, but also about the inevitability, and even desirability, of families finally disintegrating and allowing everyone involved a painful kind of freedom.
The original title is Kiseki,...
• Watch Peter on this week's Guardian Film Show
One of the year's best films has arrived quietly, unnoticed by the awards-season cheerleaders, but with its delicacy and complexity, it puts the Oscar-bait to shame. Hirokazu Koreeda's I Wish has taken two years to come to the UK. It has been more than worth the wait. Like his earlier movie Still Walking, this is a deeply considered Japanese family drama in the tradition of Ozu, with echoes of Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-liang – moving, sometimes heartbreakingly sad, often mysterious. The film is about the powerful imperative of family unity, but also about the inevitability, and even desirability, of families finally disintegrating and allowing everyone involved a painful kind of freedom.
The original title is Kiseki,...
- 2/8/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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