Harmonium

The movie "Harmonium" has a beautiful plot and tells the story of how a harmonious traditional Japanese family is broken by the actions of the past. The director and writer Kôji Fukada leaves the story open for the spectator to decide and assume plot events, i.e. Was it a case of revenge?, what did really happen to the daughter? The ending seems a bit easy escape to complete the cycle, it should be more creative and better thought.

The fine treatment of the direction and the perfect performances of the actors make this film another great surprise from the current Japanese cinema. Highly recommended.

I expected this to be better. With an almost 7/10 IMDB rating and 84/100 Metascore, i had high expectations. But i was mildly disappointed. It's by no means a bad movie, actors did a very good job, story was interesting, there were some exciting twists and i was very curious to see where it goes. It started slow but as it was progressing, pace got better and there was not a boring minute during the second part.

However, i needed more explanations. I appreciate Japanese subtlety/terseness, it's not like i want for the movies to spoonfed me, but the ending was too abrupt and unsatisfying. I won't say much in order to avoid spoilers but i didn't watch a 2 hours heavy drama for an ending like this. As another reviewer said, this movie almost feels unfinished.

And i didn't get convinced about the motives of one character. The whole movie is based upon unstable foundation. This character could do a lot of things in order to satisfy their unresolved issues. This specific action makes no sense.

So, i don't recommend it but i can say it's a good movie which many cinephiles will like it, even love it.

This is definitely a movie where you are better off not knowing much ahead of time. I recommend caution in reading reviews of this one.

The focus here is on a family: young daughter, overprotective mom, distant disengaged husband. The husband takes in a mysterious lodger without consulting his wife. That's really all you should know in advance.

If you particularly appreciate a movie that goes in unexpected directions, this film is for you. If you are interested in how relationships change under stress, this film is recommended. It is perhaps a bit long and occasionally a bit repetitive, but it is definitely worth seeing. You'll think about it a lot afterwards.

The principal flaw of Harmonium directed by Kôji Fukada may be its length. At more than two hours the film is by 20 to 30 minutes longer than the standard, and the extra time is not necessarily best used. Yet, this stylish combination between family drama, thriller and crime story has enough interesting elements in the story, and is so well acted and filmed that it eventually justifies itself and needs not make too many excuses.

We can admire from opening scenes the mastering of the art of describing the characters and the background with very little means, in a few beautifully filmed takes, with even fewer words. We see a family in Tokyo working hard for their living. The father has a metal shop and seems to be an agnostic. The mother is deeply religious and she drives the education of their daughter around ten years old, who tries to learn playing the harmonium. A stranger shows up, he is well mannered, accepted by the father and then by the rest of the family. There are secrets in the relation between the two men, and these secrets of the past will take over the situations that follow.

There are two different parts in the story separated by a jump in time which is one of the several techniques of story telling that are being experimented and combined in a well dosed mix. The story telling is built in a very interesting manner. Two acts of violence happen out of the screen, and viewers as well as most of the characters do not know exactly what happened. The first took place eleven year before the story starts. The second wraps up the first part and triggers the events of the second part, with another gap of eight years. None of them is represented on the screen, the story is not about violence but about its consequences. The final is also open ended, we see what happens, but the interpretation is left to the viewers.

I liked more the first part, with its more constraint setting and only with the four characters present on the screen. The development is necessary in the logic of commercial film making nowadays, the jumps and gaps are intentional, but they lack balance. There is wonderful acting from Mariko Tsutsui in the role of the dedicated mother but also of the feminine presence that triggers passion, and from Tadanobu Asano as the dignified and yet mysterious stranger. This film is not flawless, it lasts too long and its changes of direction may not be on everybody's taste, but it's a good example about how the Japanese school of cinema continues its great aesthetic tradition, how it combines it with the popular culture genres (like thriller and horror stories) and how it looks carefully to new means of expression in an evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach.

"Harmonium" is a Drama movie in which we watch a man who just released from prison starts living and working for a family. His presence there will change the balance of the family and problems that need to be solved will occur.

I found the movie interesting despite that it was a bit slow. The plot was simple but very interesting and the direction which was made by Kôji Fukada who is also the writer, it was very good and he presented very well both the plot and his main characters from different aspects. This had as a result to better understand them and relate to them in some occasions. The interpretations of Mariko Tsutsui who played as Akié, Tadanobu Asano who played as Yasaka and Kanji Furutachi who played as Toshio were equally good. All in all, I have to say that "Harmonium" is an interesting movie and you will understand it if you just give it some time and be patient.