Still Walking | |
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Film poster
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Directed by | Hirokazu Koreeda |
Written by | Hirokazu Koreeda |
Starring |
Hiroshi Abe Yui Natsukawa You |
Music by | Gontiti |
Cinematography | Yutaka Yamasaki |
Edited by | Hirokazu Koreeda |
Production
company |
CineQuanon
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Distributed by | IFC Films |
Release date
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Running time
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114 minutes |
Country | Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Still Walking (歩いても 歩いても Aruitemo aruitemo?) is a 2008 Japanese film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. The film is a portrait of a family over roughly 24 hours as they commemorate the death of the eldest son. The film was widely praised by critics and won the Golden Astor for Best Film at the 2008 Mar del Plata International Film Festival.
The Yokoyama family come together every year to commemorate the death of the eldest son, Junpei, who drowned accidentally 15 years ago while saving the life of another boy. His father Kyohei, a retired doctor, and mother Toshiko are joined by their surviving son Ryota, who has recently married a widow with a young son, and their daughter Chinami, her husband and their children. The family experience nostalgia, humour, sadness and tension as memories are shared and ceremonies performed.
Still Walking received wide acclaim from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of 62 professional critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 8.3/10 and the critical consensus stated as: "Hirokazu Kore-eda's film may seem modest at first, but this family drama casts a delicate, entrancing spell." In a Chicago Sun-Times review, Roger Ebert gave the work a full four stars and argued that Koreeda is an heir of Yasujirō Ozu. Trevor Johnston of Sight & Sound wrote that "however one positions Still Walking in the firmament of Japan's cinematic achievements, one thing is sure: it belongs up there with the masters." The film won the Asian Film Award for Best Director, and was nominated for the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics.