Kirschblüten - Hanami

Doris Dörrie's "Cherry Blossoms" - opening "Berlin and Beyond" Thursday, in U.S. release on Friday - has two original titles, one in German: "Kirschblüten," which means cherry blossoms, and another in Japanese: "Hanami," which doesn't.

The Japanese equivalent to the English and German titles would be "sakura"; "hanami" is a national ceremony/celebration/holiday of WATCHING the blossoms open. Dating back to the 8th century, hanami is an event without parallel outside Japan.

The difference between the titles is a subtle, but meaningful message. Just as the blossoms in themselves are different from the veritable cult surrounding them in Japan, Dörrie's characters live in two different worlds, acting differently, first clashing (similarly to "Lost in Translation") and then - somewhat mysteriously - cohere. With this complex, effective, and moving story, Dörrie, who has spent more than three decades writing and directing "interesting and different" films of varying quality, has reached a pinnacle of her career. (She owes a debt of gratitude to Yasujiro Ozu, especially his "Tokyo Story.")

"Germans and Japanese," Dörrie has said, "are really very much alike — incredibly repressed and very irrational at the same time." This vague and rather ridiculous generalization actually seems to come to life in "Cherry Blossoms."

One of Germany's best-known TV stars, Elmar Wepper, appears in his first movie role, and he nails the character of Rudi Angermeier, a cartoonishly ordinary man on an extraordinary journey. Unknown to him, he is near the end of his life, as he slowly, believably emerges from a stolid German middle-class life of unvariable routine to traverse distance and radically different cultures, all the way to Mount Fuji, dancing butoh.

There are two remarkable co-stars along Rudi's adventure: his wife, Trudi, played by the glamorous actress Hannelore Elsner, appearing heroically unglamorous here to fit the role of a plain housefrau; and Aya Irizuki as Yu.

Yu is one of those rare cinematic creations, a character you may not understand, but one who will stay with you. This waif, runaway, street artist is as bizarre a representative of Japan as - going back to "Lost in Translation" again - Bill Murray's Premium Fantasy woman ("Rip my stockings!") and yet she also evokes Giulietta Masina's character in "La Strada," a couple of continents away.

Watching Rudi and Yu under the cherry blossoms, with the strangely elusive Mount Fuji in the background finally peeking out from behind the clouds, is among the more memorable scenes in contemporary cinema.

Cherry Blossoms was just one of 15 films I have seen this year at the Seattle International Film Festival, and it has beaten my previous favourite from the festival this year, 'The Home Song Stories', into first place. Cherry Blossoms was not just my favourite film of the festival, it has probably got to be the best film I have seen in a long time hands down.

To be honest, when the film opened up with the cartoon like drawings of Mount Fuji I was a little dubious, but as soon as the first scene kicked in I was hooked! We are slowly drawn into the life of Rudi and Trudi Angermeier, opening up with Tudi being told by doctors that her husband does not have long to live and that maybe they should go on a vacation, an adventure. Through Tudi's character and voice over we begin to learn about who her husband is and what might make him tick. This is all done at the top end of the film before we move on to see Rudi and Trudi visit their children, now grown up adults with their own busy lives in Berlin. They have another son who lives in Tokyo who we meet later in the film.

What follows is a very heart-felt exploration of an older couple very much in love. It was interesting to see how badly their children seem to treat them. We later find out in the film that is because their children believe that Rudi had kind of suppressed Trudi throughout her life and not let her do what she really wanted to do, instead she devoted her life to her husband and children. Whilst that may have been true on some levels, we also see a very different side between Rudi and Trudi in their intimate moments. They seem very much in love with one another and Trudi in particular seems to have been happy to have spent her life looking after the ones she loved. It seems like the children thought it was one way, but the reality was very different. I wonder how often that kind of assumption can come up in real family life? Probably quite common I would think.

So just when we are enjoying the movie, and smiling as we get to know these people, a big twist happens. I won't tell you what it is, but I will say that I did not see it coming at all and it changes everything from that moment on.

And here my friends, is where I have to stop incorporating elements of what happened in the film into my review, for fear of spoiling it for you.

The film incorporated a lot of threads and various symbolic elements along the way, but none of them ever seem forced. They all fit nicely into the flow of things.

There is a massive transition between where Rudi's character in the film starts out, and where he ends up. His journey is wonderful and it seems very natural. There isn't some kind of sudden flip, it is very gradual and perfectly done. Often in films when you let a scene drag on or spend too long telling one element of the story it can obviously seem very tedious and boring, but this was not the case here at all. Everything had it's own place and played it's part it helping to tell the story in a very natural and honest way.

It takes a lot for me to cry when watching a film (I'm a guy!), but Cherry Blossoms did it for me, and I cried more than once. The reason for this I believe is two fold. The first being that as I watched this couple, I couldn't help but make my own personal connection to it. Thinking about my own relationship with my wife and how we may be when we get to Rudi and Trudi's age. The other reason is that you begin to care for these characters so much that when something happens to them, it makes you just want to physically reach out your hand and help them. This is all VERY powerful cinematic stuff! If a movie can take you on a sweeping ride where you laugh and cry, then that is a REAL movie! So many films you see are OK, fine, whatever, etc, etc, but it is very rare that you come across a film which really gives you something back in such a powerful way.

I can see that the writer/director had a very intimate understanding of the people and places. Whether that be from personal experience or just observation and thought. Whatever the case, it was brilliantly executed. The film was so perfect, that when I go back and think about the film, I remember other elements I had forgotten about, elements which just make it so much more perfect in my mind. It really felt like the writer just sat down and poured out the film onto paper, not over thinking or analysing it all. The truth I would guess may be quite different, but I think that's part of the charm when you see a perfect film. It's so flawless that it looks almost effortless!

From this moment forward, I shall be furiously stalking the works of the writer/director, because this is an artist to be reckoned with. Cherry Blossoms is a masterpiece which shall immediately be going on my very small list of all time top films that everyone should see!

I can't begin to describe how much this film moved me. After nearly losing my spouse, best friend and soul mate, I could relate to the crushing emotions of both Trudi and Rudi. Life stands still when you're faced with the realization of living without that person.

In 2009 my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and it crushed me. The way Trudi tried to hide her tears, how she couldn't sleep or eat, and her painful realization that each moment with him might be the last were things I experienced firsthand. I can't imagine the added of burden of trying to keep it from him and act as if nothing were wrong. I failed miserably as a strong, supportive caretaker.

Many of the things Rudi went through were similar to what I imagined my life would become if he didn't make it. One of the things that really struck me was the portrayal of how seemingly mundane, everyday events become vivid and painful reminders of what was and what you desperately wish you still had.

A beautiful movie, a work of art.

A German director Doris Dorrie's third film in her trilogy on Japan, Cherry Blossoms, is an exquisite, absorbing and deeply moving meditation on life, death, loss, loneliness and grief.

Talking about old parents with alienated and indifferent descendants, the first half of the film may remind the audience of Yasujiro Ozu's film made in 1953, Tokyo Monogatari. The six hugging-or-massage (by family members and strangers) scenes and the father's harmonious relationships with his daughter's girlfriend and a Japanese girl successfully highlight the poor relationship between the father and his children.

The second half in which the main character embarks on a reflective journey in search of traces of the deceased love captures the mood of Lost in Translation and Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. The cultural shock experienced also makes the film distinguishable from Under the Sand.

Cherry blossoms and Mount Fuji symbolize the fleeting and unpredictable nature of life. The film delivers a message that we should treasure the people around us, pursue our dreams and enjoy life to the full so that we will have no regrets. Besides, it is also about the main character's inability to communicate with not only the dead, but also the living family members. Butoh, a Japanese dance, helps people to feel and establish connections with others. What's more, the audience can pay attention to the symbolic meaning of the drawings at the beginning of the film and the photos at the end.

The cinematographer and the composer also succeed in evoking different tones from several shooting locations in Germany and Japan. The suburbs contrast sharply with the hustle and bustle of city life. Apart from the poetic and stunning visual images and the Japanese music playing upon the audience's heartstrings, the characters are so lifelike that the audience will care about what happen to them.

On the whole, although Cherry Blossoms is a bit too long, without emotional bludgeoning or syrupy manipulation, it is a little road movie producing emotional resonance and reflective ripples in a whisper.

“It's merely a movie.” Yeah. Well, whenever did you see one that had every character's play connect; comprehending intuitively their wars waging within. Between the sense of responsibility, of guilt, sweet memories, shame and nagging doubts. Not of one character, but of every single one. And then not because the lines, expressions and glances are simple, the characters sparse, or the dialogues overly explicit. No. Only because every single one is a mirror of your own, if not now than those that'll (hopefully?) be experienced in the future. Their fights aren't theirs alone; they are ours too. All painfully accurate, and so incorrigibly human.

To watch sheer Love gathering momentum before and after they ... nothing less than apotheosis of overwhelming feeling, an epitome of emotion that was so unattainably beautiful; death's but a trifle after this.

I'd rate it one star ... for every time I cried (or could have, ought to and didn't), yet the scale doesn't reach that high.