This film by writer/director Koreeda is a triumph of simplicity. Telling the story of a family who meet annually to mark the death of oldest son Junpei at the parent's house, you're struck by how well this flows. The acting is uniformly very good and the story never lags. The best thing I found about this film is how it could have been done without a script, if the actors were given this scenario. There is bitterness, pettiness and even selfishness here, all earmarks of the subject matter. I found the stylistic similarities to Ozu films to be very touching and not a bit off putting. When I watched this film in a theater in New York, people applauded at the end. This is about as real life as it gets. Its a universal theme, not a Japanese one. My hat is off to the writer/director, its a fine film.

A bit like ozu but with good camera work grandpa distant--like not part of family junpei--dead son dad not as kind to second sons strained relationships died saving life Yasujirô Ozu

"Still Walking" by Hirokazu Koreeda is a film that in so many ways reminds me of the old films of Yasujirô Ozu. While Koreeda uses modern cinematography (and Ozu deliberately avoided it),the story is much like Ozu's many, many films. Ozu tended to focus on small stories--normal people and their immediate familes. And, at times, Ozu's films like "Still Walking" is quite slow--mostly because this adds to the realism. Everyday life ISN'T like a Hollywood film but is filled with much more subtlety.

The story is about a group of family members coming to visit their parents for their once a year pilgrimage on the anniversay of the oldest son's death. Throughout this visit, so much isn't said by everyone and there is a coldness and sense of obligation and propriety that prevent them from being honest with each other. Exactly what all these unseen and unspoken things are, you can see them if you see the movie.

I have seen many of Hirokazu Koreeda's films and all have been excellent. Of them, however, perhaps this film is my least favorite(aside from his most recent film...which, oddly, was made in France) as it is a bit slower and more difficult to watch than his more famous films such as "Like Father, Like Son". This is not saying it's bad in any way--the acting and writing were lovely. In fact, even a second-rate Koreeda film is quite dandy.

Coincidentally, I viewed 'Still Walking', Hirokazu Koreeda's 2008 film the day after viewing 'Tokyo Story', Yasujirô Ozu's masterpiece. The two films are made 55 years apart, but they are very close in terms of dealing with the relationships between generations, between aging parents and children who have become parents, the time that passes irreversibly and the lost opportunities to express feelings and fix the mistakes of the past. However, the two films are more related to each other than by the subjects, because in this film Koreeda reuses some of Ozu's cinematic techniques. The films seem related in terms of topics and style, and I suspect that 'Still Walking', was conceived by Koreeda as a tribute to the master of himself and of an entire film school in Japan.

As in 'Tokyo Story', the film centers around a family reunion that brings together three generations. The occasion is sad, because the gathering is about the commemoration of the death of the eldest brother of the three children of Dr. Kiohei Yokoyama (Yoshio Harada),who was supposed to continue his work taking over his clinic, and who died saving a boy from drowning. The event occasions the confrontation between the elderly father, retired from his practice, but 'still walking' and the second son, Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) who lives in the shadow of his missing brother, of his father's disappointment and of the insecurity in his personal life. The dialogue between parents and children highlights the differences in style and pace of life between generations and the effect of the passage of time marked by unfulfilled expectations and missed opportunities. As in Ozu's movies, the heroes fail to translate their feelings into words, but are ultimately united by simple shared memories and by gestures that are sometimes part of ceremonies designed to pass from one generation to another the respect and the memory of those who no longer are.

Among the excellent acting performances, I have especially noticed that of Hiroshi Abe, who injects complexity and veracity to the role of Ryota. Cinematography often quotes Ozu, especially in the indoor scenes, with the fix camera and the characters building the entire dynamics of the scenes through their movements in the rectangular space. Quotes can also be considered to be the connecting frames - trains, the sky, the sea that describe the social background in which the action takes place. Hirokazu Koreeda proves with 'Still Walking', that he assimilated the lessons of his predecessors and continues them with respect, talent and sensitivity.