Little Forest: Summer/Autumn

This is a rather odd review I'm writing. I rate this 9/10, which means I absolutely will be watching it again; but I'm not sure I can recommend it to a general audience, particularly a Western, city- centric audience.

There is very little by way of a "story" here. What there is instead, is recipes, and tips for growing tomatoes and mustard spinach, and how ducks are used to keep rice paddies healthy, and absolutely breathtaking scenery, and more recipes, and reflections on the life-force of plants, and how to cook akebi properly, and more breathtaking scenery from rural Japan, and occasional hints of a romantic link to a local young man or some familial difficulty, and tips for making jam, ...and more recipes.

If you have wondered about the feasibility of living a more nearly self-sufficient life in a rural area, or are curious about such a life in northern Japan, you may find this worthwhile, perhaps even entrancing, possibly even downright mesmerizing. The latter describes my response fairly well.

Anyone who thinks rural areas mean bugs and heat and dirty water and no cellphone service, you have just wasted 22 seconds reading this review and certainly will not want to watch even the trailer for this film.

Are you tires of city life? sit back, relax, and watch this movie. it took me several days to get out of the atmosphere of this beautiful movie.

There is such harmony, sustainability, and mindfulness in this young woman who lives off of the crops she grows or food she finds, out in an absolutely gorgeous part of rural Japan. The moments of quiet introspection, recognizing that the things she's doing stretch back in time long before she was born, or when she's eating a walnut rice ball made with last year's crop while harvesting this year's, are nice touches, and the skills shown in preparing food were inspiring. There's also an undercurrent of a sad backstory involving her mom who's left her for some reason, but it's alluded to so subtly that it's hard to tell what's happened - though maybe it's expanded on in the second movie, Little Forest: Winter/Spring. One of my favorite moments was when the ducks are released into the rice paddies to eat up bugs, slow down weeds, and fertilize ... but that was followed by my least favorite moment, a duck being killed and eviscerated (even though it was done in the most natural way possible, she used all parts of the duck, etc). To be honest, it all reminded me quite a bit of Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi, and if you're aware of her that's certainly the tone to expect here. It's really quite lovely, but just a little too tranquil for me.

Beautiful girl eating beautifully in a beautiful environment, isn't that pleasant? Indeed. My first impression about this movie is that this one is really pleasing to the eye.

Its always been interesting to watch or read about rural Japan. To know how neat and peaceful it can be, sure is amazing for me. Furthermore, the movie provides more details about living in it. All the cooking and planting tips are neatly shown, but then the dramas get a bit sloppy. There are some wasteful scenes that bother.

The story is very interesting but we can easily lose our grip to it by the long shown details of the processes of the main character's daily life. The movie provides lots of details yet lacking the essential others, like heartwarming social life of rural area (its shown, but lacking and not well-drawn).

I don't usually bothered by the acting but I really was in this one. All the cooking are amazing, but they don't look that exciting. Food featured movies usually gives us the sensation of cooking excitement. But I think the actress failed by only giving the charm of her beauty and putting the beauty of cooking aside. Her expression also doesn't tell so much about how good her cooking is. I know that the main character having a rough and tough life, but since the movie focused on food making, I think it should detail the joy of it more.

Anyway, the movie is good or I'd rather say it is 'fresh' and I'll recommend people to watch it. Especially for those Hashimoto Ai's fans, this movie will certainly be a delight, haha. I really looking forward for the Winter/Spring and I hope it could answer all my questions for this one.

P.S. If you are looking for other movies featuring rural Japan, here are some that I remember: A Gentle Breeze in the Village(2006), Wood Job!(2014), and 700 Days of Battle: Us vs The Police(2008).

Basically I made a mistake haha.

I wanted to see Little Forest (2018) but got this one instead, without much checking....oh well. Only after 40 minutes it felt off. Until then (and after) it felt like a treat. It felt like a movie about symbiosis, about our connection to the earth and nature, it felt obvious, comfortable, chill.

Then I would have compared it with how Romania does agriculture. It doesn't feel the same. In Japan it seems like a more philosophical approach, much more profound. For us, it feels more like survival...either that or something was lost along the way. There is still respect but it's more distant and on a grander scale. When we make jam we make it for 20 people, not one. I still found some common ground to the stuff made in-house that has the same name as some brands...like the Nutella stuff. Nostalgic stuff.

You just feel that she will live past 100. If you want to escape, watch this and escape together with our protagonist.