alan_paul Feathery episodic nuggets float, fall, and accumulate to tell a gently emotional, meaningful story of four sisters. Beautifully photographed, edited, and directed, well-cast and performed, with lovely, understated music.Turn off your phone, and if you have sisters, watch this movie with them.

Vonia Our Little Sister (Japanese: Umimachi Diary {Seaside Town Diary}) (2015) Director: Hirokazu Koreeda Watched: April 2018 Rating: 7/10 Sachi, Yoshino, Chika. Three sisters, living together, growing up, learning the ways of the world. Like any set of sisters, there are fights, but there is also love. Their father has abandoned them for another woman. Their mother has abandoned them for another man. They will not abandon each other. For better or worse. They receive the unforeseen news of their father's death. At his funeral, they receive- not something, but someone- even less foreseen. Their half-sister Suzu. Taking an immediate liking to her, they invite her to live with them. She accepts. This is a film far more than the sum of its parts. Alone, most scenes are mundane, even taxing to watch. Put all together, though, we have a heartfelt drama with a coming-of-age aspect. The house they cherish and reside in serves as its own character. One must be patient to appreciate the bonding moments between the sisters. Koreeda masterfully portrays the transformation from strangers to family; the slow push and pull in the formation of a lasting relationship. Some lovely cinematography, notably the long shots of scenery and water, the cherry blossom "tunnel" (you can feel yourself there; you can feel the transformative meeting the bicycle ride under those trees has for Suzu), walks along the beach (the sisters, Suzu and her boyfriend, when Sachi tells her lover she can not move with him, then again in the final scene), scream therapy on the mountains (Sachi: "You can talk about {your mother} if you like. You can stay here as long as you like."; Suzu: "I want to stay here forever."). Clever use of slow-motion, e.g. Riding under the tunnel of cherry blossom trees and the four sisters bonding over fireworks.There are moments of unexpected tension and even suspense, like the meeting between Suzu and her father's ex-wife (her half-sisters' mother) or eldest sister Sachi's heated arguments with her mother, who abandoned the girls at an early age. There are the usual Koreeda staples like finding beauty in everyday things, examinations of life and death including (multiple) funerals, family honor eloquently portrayed, cultural differences like respect accurately portrayed in stark contrast to what is familiar to foreign viewers. Give this storyline to a director in this country and it would be a completely different film. For one thing, you can bet it would not be anywhere near this delicate and lyrical. It is easy to recognize Koreeda's work- his directing, in a way, invisible. It is an oxymoron. You know it when you see it, because it almost feels like an artful documentary, subdued in its excitement, unsensational in its story; but remarkable in its effect, powerful in its hold long after watching. Admittedly, this film does drag out. Mostly it is for the better. There are a few debatably superfluous scenes. One should watch this prepared to be taken on a meandering cruise through these girls' early adult lives. Some Koreeda films have unforgettable messages, enlightening stories. This one is more of an artful observation. There will be no figurative fireworks- only the literal ones in a couple endearing scenes. It is called contemplative cinema, after all. Sisters are a special bond. On a personal note- having an estranged sister- this film especially spoke to me. Late night visits in each others' rooms, "liquid courage" bonding, priceless moments of laughter. Koreeda and these lesser known actresses made some magic here in portraying the uniqueness of sister relationships. Cheesy but still sweet final scene lines from Sachi: "Dad was not really good man, but he must have been a kind one... He left behind a sister like her for us." #FilmReview #Koreeda #ThingsAsCharacters

losindiscretoscine Put aside a part of your clichés about Japan, the director Hirokazu Kore-eda immerses the viewer in the intimacy of three sisters whose personalities are way different. Their kindness leads them to welcome their half-sister whose existence was ignored by them. The photography, bright and refined, provides the movie with a goodwill whose secret is only kept by Japanese productions. Way more than a simple "feel good movie", "Our little sister" never falls into the pathos despite situations that would easily lend to it. Not dramatic nor a comedy, it's the movie's neutrality that is striking : scenes follow one after another without having a single impact on each other and yet, the camera's eye leads us to become infatuated with those four sisters that are learning to be happy together, each of them bounded by her own intrigue in the background. If the message can seem a little bit too bright, sometimes flirting with the gullible, we have no problem embracing this naivety, like during this beautiful biking scene where the blooming sakuras pass before our eyes. Full review on our blog Los Indiscretos : https://losindiscretos.org/english/our-little-sister-2015-hirokazu- koreeda/

Johan Dondokambey Three sisters Sachi, Yoshino and Chika live together in their old house. Their father abandoned them as kids and ran our with another woman. Soon their mother followed suit and left them with their grandmother. As their father died, while already married to his third wife, they find their half sister Suzu, their father's daughter from her second wife. The movie tells the story with Suzu as a new addition to the house, including the friction with the sister's mother, Suzu's development in her new environment, and the deaths of close people the sisters know from childhood. I really like this movie. It's no secret that Japan can also produce gripping family drama stories like this. Our Little Sister (2015) tells us a "what if" story which may not happen in the real world, but the story's development is nicely logic and emotional at the same time, without having to be full with confrontation. I like how the story stretches wide enough but still gets confined into the limits of the small town where the sisters live in.What strikes as strange is that this is the second good Japan drama movie that has great story after Departures (2008). Both movies strongly feature themes related to death, particularly death of an estranged father. Both also focus on the live of small Japanese town instead of the metropolitan or the rural area.Acting-wise, Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa, Kaho and Suzu Hirose did well in giving life to their characters. I like how the they kept their character steady along the whole two hours of the movie. They acted well that audience will easily sympathize to them, even though their characters have oddly awkward backgrounds facing each other, particularly Suzu to the sisters. My say for Our Little Sister (2015) is a solid 7 out of 10. For me it's a really recommended watch. But then again it may be hard to find this movie in local theaters.