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Still Walking

Universal acclaim
Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Hirokazu Koreeda
Directed by: Hirokazu Koreeda
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 21, 2009
Running Time: 114 minutes, Color
Origin: Japan
Language(s): Japanese
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You, Kazuya Takahashi, Shohei Tanaka, Kirin Kiki, and Yoshio Harada
Fifteen years ago, Junpei, the youngest son of the Yokoyama family died while rescuing a boy from drowning. On the anniversary of his death, the remaining siblings visit the quaint home of their parents with their families in tow. Over the course of a beautiful day, new relatives become acquainted telling stories and squabbling over sizzling tempura and an elegant graveside ritual is performed for Junpei. (IFC Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The Onion (A.V. Club) Sam Adams
The movie seems like a perfect found object, as if it had always existed and was just waiting to be uncovered.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Painful family issues are more likely to stay beneath the surface, known to everyone but not spoken of. Still Walking, a magnificent new film from Japan, is very wise about that, and very true.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
This small gem of a movie always feels true and real as it gently reveals the quiet moments that define our lives.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
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.
Read Full Review >Washington Post John Anderson
One of the more accomplished and beautiful films released thus far this year.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Koreeda was inspired by his guilt over having neglected his own parents, and the story is remarkable for the quiet, seemingly casual way he depicts the fallout of bitterness and grief.
Read Full Review >NPR Mark Jenkins
Quite aside from Shinto transformation parables or Buddhist reincarnation teachings, the final scene shows how family wisdom is conserved and recycled. It's a moment that might elicit a smile or a tear, or perhaps both.
Read Full Review >Variety Dennis Harvey
Its modest surface belies the depths of a lovely seriocomedy that concisely lays bare all kinds of uncomfortable dynamics in seemingly casual, low-key fashion.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Anthony Kaufman
Koreeda imbues the story with such specificity, tactility, and humanity that yet another movie about a dysfunctional family reunion becomes a cinematic tone poem.
Read Full Review >St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams
A miniaturist's masterpiece, the ebb and flow of familial love distilled to its essence.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
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 thoughts in the back of one's mind.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
The film pays off in the end when, almost imperceptibly, the rush of emotions it stirs in us rises to a soft crescendo.
Read Full Review >Empire David Parkinson
Subtle and multi-layered film-making with compelling performances.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Maggie Lee
Kore-eda listens to his characters' inner thoughts with the attentiveness of a piano tuner, and reveals them with the lightest inferences.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
This is life as it’s lived, not dreamed. And this is a family bound not only by sorrow, but also by a shared history that emerges in 114 calibrated minutes and ends with a wallop.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
An usually insightful rendering of an ordinary family, Hirokazu Kore-eda's contemplative Japanese drama is the sort of movie that makes its greatest impact long after you've seen it.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Koreeda, talented director that he is, never allows the story to sink into soap-opera melodrama, and he refrains from pointing fingers.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Mark Feeney
There’s nothing static about Still Walking.’ The presence of three kids sees to that, as does the eloquence of Kore-eda’s framing and compositions.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A film of droll and dry observational precision, its emotional minimalism is almost fetishistic -- and, by the end, a tad frustrating.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
nick j. gave it a10:
This is the most affecting and beautiful film of 2009. At the hear of the story is a tale of a family torn apart, and all the opportunities they lost. Beautiful, sad, and haunting cinema.
skip gave it a10:
First time commenting but had to chime in on this gem of a film. Absolutely beautiful little family drama...completely unforced and authentic relationships and gorgeous filmmaking all around. Can't recommend highly enough!
