Hush!

I saw Grains of Sand a number of years ago, so I decided to see this one at the Toronto International Film Fest this year. For me, it was the best movie I saw this year. The characters were great - all of them felt real to me. The humour in this movie is great. Not much more to say except go see it!

If you like your movies subtle and sweet, then this should be just the ticket. Although the subject matter isn't too out there in the West, it's interesting to see it broached in the Japanese context, where tradition and respect for family are still held in high esteem. The film deals with familial relationships now, and as such presents a refreshing and forward thinking outlook on the nature of the family unit in the 21st century. Hashiguchi lets us watch these intimate relationships as they build up and, in some cases, break down, without feeling intrusive. There are some wonderful scenes of extended dialogue, the sort of meandering conversations that go nowhere, but that are incredibly involving nonetheless. All the performances are spot on, and there's just the right balance between the humour and the heartache. It's a slow, talky film, but still highly rewarding.

There's something off about this movie. I kept wondering if perhaps it was just badly translated. It wasn't that I didn't know what was going on from one moment to the next, but there seemed to be many strange sudden transitions and characters would suddenly seem to be familiar with one another when I'd had the impression they'd never met before. It gave the narrative a jerky, confused feel.

I only made it through about a third of this before I got bored and gave up. It wasn't awful, but it was never absorbing, I wasn't feeling remotely connected to the characters and there just didn't seem to really be much going on, although at the time it stopped it looked like the movie was just deciding it might need to have some sort of plot after all. But that was too little too late.

Although this is a film about a subject which has been covered before (gay couple and then along comes a woman who decides that she would like to have a child by one of them and the fall-outs and tensions that are created by this) it is a really nice and i found genuinely affecting film.

The film also strays into the territory of the changing social circumstances of modern Japan as well as the, nicely handled, scenes where you are shown more about the family relationships that exist in the present day.

Nice performances and a nice soothing sound track (with just a little Japanese twist). Maybe the best recommendation that i can give this film is that i nearly broke my ankle playing football before i went to see it and i had to walk back home in the pouring rain...and i did so with a big smile on my face thanks to this film.

As i am becoming more interested in foreign films, i am continually amazed at the high quality of some of these films, especially the European ones. I am not a big fan of Asian movies, but this one scores a high on my list.

This isn't a fast film at all, which is great, as it captures the detailed makeup of these characters and their connections with ones another. Some can be too slow, but this had a steady pace giving great depth into their emotions and everyday lives. This is one aspect I like about foreign movies, attention to detail.

I am not overly keen on gay relationships, but this film was still a good watch providing some insight into gay couples and their decisions about families and children.

Overall it was a good movie. Worth watching again.

The acting was great too.