Cha no aji

DO NOT miss the chance to see this incredible film by Katsuhito Ishii. I just recently saw it at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and it was by far the best film I saw in my short stay there. The sheer imagination of the character's lives portrayed on screen is amazing. Little can be said to explain exactly what this film is about, but it is one of those films that you could simply watch for days upon end without getting tired of the characters or their stories.

It's incredible to think that the director of this film has such little professional experience in film, as he handles the script, editing, and directing of "Cha no aji" like he has had years to hone his craft. The innovative use of special effects, humor, and flashbacks give the film its unique, unforgettable "taste".

Really fantastic! Ishii offers us a great moment of dream, with humor, absurdity and poetry. Some kind of Non Identified Movie that you quite don't see any more. Everything is built around a little girl getting exhausted by her giant imaginary double. She has a manga-designer mother, a reserved father, a fist-in-love brother, a nut grandfather and a mysterious uncle. This delirious and particular family will follow its path through more than two hours of slow poetry, giving the audience a wonderful time. Don't miss it if you have any chance of watching it, you'll be dreaming in a theater!

You know, family films just aren't what they used to be, and what a wonderful notion that is. The only Ishii film that I've seen prior to The Taste of Tea is Shark Skin Man and Hip Peach Girl, and the maturity level of the director was almost unrecognizable.

At first everything in this film feels strangely secluded from the everyday world; the school, the house and the family members who seem extremely timid. The rarely displayed state of normality in family films, as supposed to the somewhat redundant tales of kindred conflicts that Ishii was able to capture, transcended in a refreshing and mesmerizing manner. The behavior of each family member was played out so naturally by the actors that I felt like I was watching a documentary. When the so called "unusual traits" of the family members resurfaces, the transformation is executed smoothly, without wandering off into another genre or changing the intended mood of the film.

I rarely get behind ensemble casts but I hope Ishii will maintain the relationship with these actors for his future projects. Asano as always breathes the ethereally inner distance, yet still feels humanely connected to the world and people in it. No matter how often the word 'subtle' is used to describe films, in reality I think it is a rare achievement. Ishii did a great job of taking his time to let us observe each family member as they go through their daily routines and as they attentively take time to watch over each other.

After seeing her in Kamikaze Girls, I was hoping to see and especially hear more from Anna Tsuchiya, who I think has a great future ahead of her.

I think every bit of detail obtained from the comments and even the poster should give you an idea about what type of film this is. It's comforting to know that in this day and age certain directors don't feel the financial and mainstream strain, and willingly dedicate their time and passion to making such wonderful films.

A truly unique vision of a whimsical, funny and gently-demented family. The actors do a wonderful job in fleshing out the quirky characters so that they are never cartoons.

The cinematography is fascinating-- sometimes simply beautiful; other times, bizarre. And sometimes the perspectives are distorted just enough so things take on a surreal appearance but you don't exactly know why.

This a character-driven story without a whole lot of plot. If you need a complex storyline, you may be bored, but if you like stories which reveal the inner life of a creative family, this is the film to see.

Ishii's first and second films were boisterous, flashy, colorful, and irreverent, but his mastery of editing, sound design, and narrative (not to mention the surprisingly touching romance at the heart of his debut, Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl) suggested that behind all the fireworks is a real genius who truly loves and understands the medium of film, not just a flashy showman using his advertising experience to deliver 90 minutes of pretty looking entertainment. With Ishii's third film, the dreamlike, funny, occasionally absurd, and ultimately mournful Taste of Tea (best feature winner at the 2004 Hawaii International Film Festival) he tones things down a notch from his prior efforts and gets personal, telling the story of a single family rather than an ensemble of oddballs (though the family is admittedly a little weird). The result is wonderful. Touching, hilarious, beautiful, odd, and constantly surprising. If you weren't paying attention during some of the moving and humane "slow" parts of Sharkskin Man, you might be shocked that Taste of Tea is from the same stylish hipster who once told an audience not to treat his first film like a cultural artifact but just to "enjoy the idiots on screen." Like Pierre Jeunet with Amelie, Ishii has demonstrated with Taste of Tea that there's real substance to be found under all that style. Absolutely not to be missed.