KORE-EDA HIROKAZU's latest film continues to highlight his patience poetic style of filmmaking. OUR LITTLE SISTER, is a picturesque and poignant look at the promises kept and lost when families are broken up yet still connected. To experience a rare film that spends it's time evoking an emotion rather than bombarding you with images don't miss Hirokazu's latest. Click through for my review of OUR LITTLE SISTER.
Our Little Sister is a very loose adaptation of Yoshida Akimi's best-selling graphic novel "Umimachi Diary". The film quickly separates itself from the novel's plot line early one, but the simple beauty scene on the pages is perfectly showcased in the film.
"Three twenty-something sisters – Sachi, Yoshino and Chika – live together in a large old house in the seaside town of Kamakura. When they learn of their estranged father's death, they decide to travel to the countryside for his funeral. There they meet their shy teenage half-sister Suzu for the first time and, bonding quickly, invite her to live with them. Suzu eagerly agrees, and begins a new life with her older sisters." From OUR LITTLE SISTER Website.
Director Hirokazu & Cinematographer Mikiya Takimoto reveal the emotion behind simple moments in the lives of these 4 different woman. The age and class differences come across as wholly universal and the father's infidelity certainly is a universal element. But the beauty scene in a morning wake up breakfast routine, a long walk on a beach, a late night stroller through town or a scenic bike ride are all simple ideas made bigger than life with beautiful visual scope of each shot sequence. If the film leaves you with anything it's an amazing eye for all the unique things seen day to day in Kamakura.
Four seasons, four girls, four visual palettes and four vary unique lives impacted. The changing is subtle but binding and the more we experience the four changing seasons the more we realize the complex connections that hold these four together. Overall the visual feel of each season mirrors one of the girl's lives and it's this touch that makes the film so epic in nature.
But FOOD is the unifying element. Cooking, eating and remembering food are all used to showcase powerful interactions throughout the film. You can almost feel the shift in the story by the new and different food choice that the ladies consume. As they experience the wonderment of food being the great connector so to we are connected to each girl and lady.
OUR LITTLE SISTER is a film that allows you to sit back and escape into the beauty of life. The film can be seen at either Angelika Dallas or Plano and 2 hours you should most certainly add to your schedule. Escape the unflinching nature of your life by slowly immersing yourself into these four sisters' lives.
