rex-10

Well, if you are in the mood for a hollow "feel good movie" this will fit the bill. But if you are looking for substance, or a film that makes you think, this film will leave you knowing you can never get the time back you just spent watching this movie. The soundtrack probably causes movie-goers to connect to the film more than the flimsy plot.

At the time this film was released, Hanks was perhaps the most sought after leading man. In some ways, it is as though the studios were on a quest to turn him into his generation's Jimmy Stewart. Hanks is a solid actor, and has acted in many excellent roles, but this is not one of them. But this film certainly helped launch the "Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Restaurant" found at tourist traps all across the United States. In many ways, that is this film's legacy - made for theater tourist looking for a vacation for the mind.

I like this director. I liked this touching story. But to emphasize the passing of time the director, Hirozaku Kore-Eda, allows so much time to pass that I started getting restless in my seat. This is not normal for me, as I can watch a Terrence Malick film like "Badlands," or "Thin Red Line" or a Jim Jarmusch film like "Stranger than Paradise" where the director takes his time, and still find the film enjoyable. So be warned, in watching this you may wish that more was edited out. However, one could argue that the strength of the film is the attention to details. The favorite candy of a little girl... The weeds growing between the cracks and on the balcony... The flirtations between a boy and a girl... The brush with shoplifting to make friends... it is vignettes such as these that make the film so true to life.

In terms of similar story line you may be interested in a 1988 Japanese anime, "Grave of the Fireflies" (aka "Hotaru no haka") about a brother and sister abandoned after the fire-bombings of Tokyo in WWII.

If you are looking for an interesting film by this director that is more likely to make you think, rent "Afterlife" (aka "Wandafuru raifu").

This film was made in 1960. This is interesting because it is highly doubtful that the same film could be made in India today, in spite of India's massive film industry. The film does a great depiction of the crisis faced by people struggling to be modern yet encumbered with the traditional systems and the specter of having been colonized.

The younger son is ready to walk away from the bondage of traditional and as he sees, the superstition of the traditional life. Of course, he is reaping the benefit of life as a high caste. His young wife becomes the Devi - the embodiment of the goddess. This film also works well for its psychological content for the way we see the father project his desires onto those around him, and the choices faced by each character. In light of the fundamentalism worldwide - Christian, Muslim & Hindu - it is hard to image that this film could be made today in India since it leans to a skeptical view of Darsan and the goddess.