I think I'm partial to certain Asian films about family life (the masters are Ang Lee and Yasujiro Ozu) because I see so much that is familiar in my own family dynamics. The passive aggressive tactics and the importance of what is NOT said over what is actually verbalized. So watching the new film Still Walking from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda at the 2009 SFIFF felt like "going home" in a way. The story is quite simple. There is a small family reunion of two siblings with their respective families, visiting their elderly parents. We don't know there has been a death in the family until the early mid part of the film, and it takes some time and attention to fully realize all the different family connections. It feels really natural and unforced. The father is a retired clinic doctor who is still overly invested in his past career. The mother "who has never worked a day in her life" but is more than the dutiful caretaker that she projects. The son is reluctantly returning home with a new wife that was widowed with a young son. The daughter is happily married and a mother of two rather spoiled brats. The film basically follows the family gathering over the course of 32 hours. Nothing earth shattering happens, but at the end of the day, you get the sense that each character had a major shift in their life.
The style of direction and story seems most similar to Ozu, especially the static shots and family structure of the storyline. However, I was also reminded of Demme's Rachel Getting Married, in which you immerse yourself in another family reunion. However, in that film the communication is far more direct and confrontational, befitting an American family. They would make interesting companion pieces in a study of cultural differences. The actors are all very believable, especially the handsome Hiroshi Abe who plays the son Ryota and the fabulously named Kirin Kiki who plays the mother. I look forward to checking out the films of Mr. Koreeda, I've only seen Nobody Knows.
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