Still Walking

Kore-Eda turns out to be a versatile film maker. After films such as the very original drama After Life and the idiosyncratic and realistic Nobody Knows, he now shows he also has a command of classic handiwork.
Still Walking is set in one location, on one day and within one family. Every year, the Yokohama family withdraws to a house on the coast in order to commemorate the death of the eldest and most beloved son. For the other son, these encounters are a trial. He’ll never be able to live up to his idealised brother. His parents regard his profession as an art restorer as being unworthy of a Yokohama and don’t accept his new wife, who has a child from a previous marriage. The eldest son was drowned when he saved a child, and that child is also obliged to come every year to pay a visit. These are the painful moments that are casually interwoven into the narrative. Yet it’s not a sombre or dramatic film – it’s too summery for that. Kore-Eeda tries to capture the drama in its everyday nature, and his light touch is often humorous.
There’s an obvious comparison to be made with the family films of Ozu Yasujiru, but the light tone sought by Kore-Eda is different. He’s not looking to be a new Ozu, but a new Kore-Eda. The lovers of his earlier work will just have to live with that. (GjZ)

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