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Hiroshi Abe, Yoshio Harada, Yui Natsukawa, Kazuya Takahashi, Shohei Tanaka ... see more see more... , Hotaru Nomoto , Ryôga Hayashi , Tomoya Taguchi , You , Kirin Kiki , Haruko Kato , Susumu Terajima , Yukari Horie , Yoshiharu Takahashi , Mitsuhiro Tamura , Miyuri Kudo , Keisuke Tanaka

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda writes and directs this family drama that unfolds over the course of a single summer day as the Yokoyama family gathers for a rare reunion held to commemorate the death of t... read more read more...he one who was taken before his time. It was 15 years ago that eldest Yokoyama son, Junpei, drowned in a tragic accident, and the only changes around the family home since that fateful day are so subtle that they're not likely to be noticed by anyone outside of the immediate family. Retired family patriarch Kyohei (Yoshio Harada) used to run a successful medical clinic out of the home, though the lights in his medical examining room haven't even been turned on in years. The tiles in the kitchen where energetic Toshiko (Kirin Kiki) cooks family meals are slowly coming loose, and as youngest son Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) arrives home, he does his best to hide the fact that he's currently unemployed. His older sister, Chinami (You), has also arrived with her family, and does her best to entertain everyone despite the undeniable cloud of melancholy hanging over the home. As the festive gathering commences and Toshiko lays out a lavish meal, it gradually becomes obvious that resentment and sorrow bonds this family as powerfully as love. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

88% liked it

2,496 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

59 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 54 min.

Directed by: Hirokazu Koreeda

Release Date: June 28, 2008

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DVD Release Date: March 1, 2010

Stats: 288 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (288)

  • flixsterman
    May 27, 2012
    flixsterman
    Richly layered family drama that's poignant and wonderfully human. Even the animosity and strife is infused with warmth. Kore-Eda knocked this one out of the park.
  • fb1216165431
    September 10, 2011
    fb1216165431
    Still Walking is a subtly beautiful film-making that revels in its simplicity in presenting complex honest emotions. Fine visual artistry. Gently tense that delivers a calm delight.
  • Alireza64ir
    June 9, 2011
    Alireza64ir
    A beautiful poetic movie from director of Nobody Knows.The ending was the main point of movie,which gave us a deep feeling.It tried to bring up questions such as why we should make life intolerable and instead of loving each other grieve for the ones we have lost.While we know th... read moreat life is short and soon we are going to die.I should admit the movie was a bit boring and required more material.We feel emotionally affected but at the same time we arent sure if it is a big deal.
  • gator681
    September 20, 2009
    gator681
    "Still Walking" is a heartfelt and bittersweet movie about what would be on the surface just a simple family gathering. However, Ryota(Hiroshi Abe) has not seen his parents in years, nor does he call to talk, and is bringing along his wife Yukari(Yui Nutsakawa) and her son Atsus... read morehi(Shohei Tanaka) from her first marriage. Even on the train ride there, he is already planning their exit strategy but Yukari persuades him to spend the night. Ryo's parents(Kirin Kiki & Yoshio Harada) are old fashioned and disapprove of him marrying a widow. That is not the only sign that death hangs over this household, as Ryota's father is 72 and unwillingly retired from his calling as a doctor, even as a neighbor talks to him about being with her when she dies. The eldest son Junpei died young and heroically(his shrine can be seen prominently in several shots), leaving the father with nobody to continue the clinic he worked at all his life, as Ryo did not follow him into the profession and cannot live up to what has been expected of him. Ryo is currently between jobs. He talks about being an art restorer but calls publishers, looking for work. In any case, he cannot afford a car, a status item, to pick up his mother to go shopping. In the end, this is a refreshingly honest and admirably restrained movie about the complex emotions of family dynamics which speaks much to the hypocrisy of civility, the only honesty coming from speaking behind everybody else's backs.(It would have been even better if less had been said between the characters.) Regardless, no matter what is said and not said, one's parents should always be cared for.
  • fb796967648
    August 29, 2009
    fb796967648
    Lovingly made, keenly observed, touchingly performed (actually inhabited) this beautiful, tiny gem spends 24 hours with a family and never wastes a second. What emerges is the totally unsurprising but constantly comforting realization that what happens while sitting around the t... read moreable as a grown child is as universal as any feeling that exists. This Japanese family could be my family, it could be yours. Calibrated for perfectly cumulative effect, it only gets better with each passing minute. Wonderful.
  • lesleyanorton
    February 27, 2011
    lesleyanorton
    Japanese drama by HIROKAZU KOREEDA ( MABOROSI, AFTER LIFE, AIR DOLL). Son and daughter return home to their aging parents for a day to commemorate their dead brother.Beautifully scripted and acted, the film shows the nuances of family life, the niggles, the needs, the discomfort,... read more the secrets, all done so delicately you barely realise a conversation about music is really about some long-past infidelity or why two grown-ups are squabbling about a pair of pyjamas. This had me laughing out loud at times at the truth of it all.
    For anyone who's ever felt ambivalent about being visiting the folks back home.

  • mvieaddict
    February 28, 2010
    mvieaddict
    The Japanese movie Still Walking, a beautiful family drama, about a son, visiting his parents on the fifteenth anniversary of his brothers death, he drowned while saving another boy. The acting was extremely good as I was used to see in Japanese movies. I think that these actors ... read morecould have done this movie without a script, so real and so natural they did come over. There was still bitterness, grief and also selfishness ,which was the central subject of the movie.The movie had many emotional surprises,showed with a light touch. It was about family, love and regret and it was like real life story.
  • columbiatch
    August 22, 2009
    columbiatch
    Sort of a miniture Tokyo Story, with the kids doing the traveling instead of the parents. There's the Ozu-esque subplot of kids failing to live up to the expectations of the parents, and there's the common Hirokazu focus of people reacting to the death of family members. Interest... read moreingly he says that the film has more in common with Naruse. The aesthetic is all static shots save the last one, but framing does not resemble Ozu. It's a very personal film in which Hirokazu, who dedicated the film to his deceased mother. Very affecting stuff.
  • no25pikachu
    March 15, 2009
    no25pikachu
    Amazing movie about the 24 hour time frame of a family visiting grandparents. Reminds me so much of family it was an enjoyment to watch.

View All Aruitemo Aruitemo (Still Walking) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Colin Covert
October 15, 2009
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Still Walking strikes an extraordinary balance between the moment-to-moment pleasure of life and the inevitable regret that accompanies time's passing. Full Review

Steven Rea
September 24, 2009
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Pitch-perfect and profoundly moving... Full Review

James Berardinelli
September 24, 2009
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

The tone is perfect; this is one of those rare films that, despite being rooted firmly in the world around us, is utterly absorbing and capable of reducing the immediacies of life into abstract though... Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
September 9, 2009
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

Though [Koreeda] has made a film of droll and dry observational precision, its emotional minimalism is almost fetishistic -- and, by the end, a tad frustrating. Full Review

Kenneth Turan
September 4, 2009
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

It will strongly move you, but you won't be able to say exactly why. It illuminates 24 hours in the life of a Japanese family, and though it may appear that not much is happening, by the end everythin... Full Review

Walter V. Addiego
September 4, 2009
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

The director has said that, though the story was inspired by the deaths of his parents, he hoped to make a film "brimming with life." He's succeeded. Full Review

September 3, 2009
Washington Post

One fears to blink, because some essential element in the story will be lost and, with it, some nuance, of which there are many.

Roger Ebert
September 3, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

If anyone can be considered an heir of the great Yasujiro Ozu, it might be Hirokazu Kore-Eda, the writer and director of Still Walking. Full Review

V.A. Musetto
August 28, 2009
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

Kore-eda, talented director that he is, never allows the story to sink into soap-opera melodrama, and he refrains from pointing fingers. Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman
August 28, 2009
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

Kore-eda has an extraordinary grasp on his characters, modest people who clearly mean a great deal to him. They will to you, as well. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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