This review may contain spoilers
A wish is all you need
Kore-eda has this magical sense of life's inertia. This movie really isn't about anything and yet it's message is beautiful.
A story about life as a young children who carry small burdens. The movie touches on family dynamics and its effects on children. We have the brothers with differing views on how they saw their parents relationship. We have a young Megumi who is trying to pursue a dream in which her mother doesn't approve. We have gambling problems, body problems and companionship. In a way the story was about the affect parental negligence has on children. Though nothing is explicitly expressed, Kore-eda's films usually deal with family structure and nuiance. Each child represented very real problems children can face and their resilience against adversity.
I thought the way the movie ended with Koichi not wanting to make a wish spoke volumes about him understanding the feelings of everyone around him. I felt for the most part of the movie he was a little selfish. But I think through all the help he received, he realized that everyone deserves their wishes to come true. His wish would of interfered with that. The montage of everything they went through to get to this point was beautifully done.
The kurukan cake I felt was also a metaphor for adulthood. Something so plain and unassuming like life but having a slight sweetness, spoke about life's little wins. A life that goes by day to day but there's hints of good. During the course of the movie we experienced these little wins and courage thriving on in your young protagonists.
As usual many of the shots in the movie linger on the inate beauty of the everyday. We have all these micro interactions such as; a hand being placed on a shoulder, the mixing of ingredients, the dusting of a table. Each one is nothing in the grand scheme of things but the focus on them is what makes his movies special. It's the little things that matter to Kore-eda. These small gestures all make up our daily lives, subconsciously affecting how we see the world.
I wouldn't say this is my favorite of his works, but it was an enjoyable 2 hours and a nice way to turn off your mind for a while.
A story about life as a young children who carry small burdens. The movie touches on family dynamics and its effects on children. We have the brothers with differing views on how they saw their parents relationship. We have a young Megumi who is trying to pursue a dream in which her mother doesn't approve. We have gambling problems, body problems and companionship. In a way the story was about the affect parental negligence has on children. Though nothing is explicitly expressed, Kore-eda's films usually deal with family structure and nuiance. Each child represented very real problems children can face and their resilience against adversity.
I thought the way the movie ended with Koichi not wanting to make a wish spoke volumes about him understanding the feelings of everyone around him. I felt for the most part of the movie he was a little selfish. But I think through all the help he received, he realized that everyone deserves their wishes to come true. His wish would of interfered with that. The montage of everything they went through to get to this point was beautifully done.
The kurukan cake I felt was also a metaphor for adulthood. Something so plain and unassuming like life but having a slight sweetness, spoke about life's little wins. A life that goes by day to day but there's hints of good. During the course of the movie we experienced these little wins and courage thriving on in your young protagonists.
As usual many of the shots in the movie linger on the inate beauty of the everyday. We have all these micro interactions such as; a hand being placed on a shoulder, the mixing of ingredients, the dusting of a table. Each one is nothing in the grand scheme of things but the focus on them is what makes his movies special. It's the little things that matter to Kore-eda. These small gestures all make up our daily lives, subconsciously affecting how we see the world.
I wouldn't say this is my favorite of his works, but it was an enjoyable 2 hours and a nice way to turn off your mind for a while.
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