Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Koreeda) [Archive]

Peng

08-29-2015, 04:10 PM

Koreeda's new film tells the story of a group of three grown-up sisters living together for many years, after their father abandoned them for another woman and their mother cleared out shortly after as well. They discover at their father's funeral that they have a teenage half sibling, and decide to welcome her into the family.

I really liked, almost loved, Koreeda's previous film Like Father, Like Son, but had a slight complaint that it was a little schematic in part, especially concerning the main father's arc. Well, it turned out that when let loose of any overarching premise altogether, his naturalism can turn frequently rambling; there were several moments towards the end that I thought it was going to be over, only for the film to go on for another good ten minutes.

However, Koreeda's naturalism and images are still delectably gorgeous as ever. There are several lovely, poetic moments that accumulate into a truly beautiful portrait of family. These people may seem too nice and conflict-free to function as effective characters in a drama, but the leisurely time and gentle episodes let us become increasingly fond of them, as if we are one of the family. It also helps that every performance is note perfect, especially the youngest sister, which helps their interactions always ring true.

Koreeda's recent run of extremely pleasant family dramas might have a chance of crossing over into blunt blandness real soon, but for now his gentle manipulation still works its charm well enough on me.

7.5/10