Movielogr

Rating: 8 stars

Tags

Japan mubi coming of age teenagers mother father island isolation typhoon sex nudity death of parent swimming ocean tokyo illness grief single parent

All movies seen on 04/11/2019

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Still the Water (2014)

Directed by Naomi Kawase

Drama

Overview

On the Japanese island of Amami, despite lacking parental guidance, Kaito and his girlfriend Kyoko try to find their place in the world. While Kaito suffers from the absence of his father, who moved to Tokyo after his birth, Kyoko must come to grips with her mother’s terminal illness.

Length 121 minutes

Actors

Nijiro Murakami | Jun Abe | Miyuki Matsuda | Tetta Sugimoto | Makiko Watanabe | Jun Murakami | Hideo Sakaki | Fujio Tokita | Sadae Sakae | Kazurô Maeda | Mitsuaki Nakano | Yukiharu Kawabata | Yukiyo Maeda | Kinue Yasuda

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Another film from the “Love and Death in Japan” special on MUBI. Another crazy premise to follow JOURNEY TO THE SHORE, which I viewed last night.

Kinda blown away by this. First off, Junko Abe is beautiful. It was a trip to watch her character deal with the terminal illness of her mother at a similar age when my mom was sick. The scenes with the villagers singing for her mother just crushed me.

In contrast, Nijiro Murakami’s character Taiko perfectly summed up the frustration and anger he felt towards his mother. Also reminded me of my anger at his age. All the characters in this film feel fully realized.

Was really cool to see a movie set on the Amami archipelago at the southern tip of Japan. Rare to see that area captured in a narrative feature. The photography is stunning as well.

If a Blu existed of this I would buy it.

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