tedg It must be me. It seems that only Japanese filmmakers are able to find that light world where everything seems incidental, but every motion has cosmic force. So very many of these succeed.And again, we have a simple family who we observe, but the thing tickles our notions of self- performance and art. The "narrator" is a little girl who is haunted by a giant image of herself who watches in silence (as do we) until she is able to perform a trick. The father is a hypnotist, the mother a film animator. The uncle, who lives with them is a sound editor and aspiring performer.Key events: a game of go as teen seduction; that boy running until unable to breathe as the most extreme joy, joy in not having but expecting. The only kind of real joy, exhausting.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

shijin- Katsuhito Ishii said in an interview that he put everything in this movie that he himself would want or always wanted to see in a movie. And it turns out that it's probably that which many of us miss. Everybody asks himself the questions "What would have been, if.." or "Why did this happen..." after a plot twist or after something grave happens to the protagonist(s). In cha no aji no severe incident hits the family depicted, rather it is a portrait of different lifestyles, we follow the family members in their everyday life and see the smaller and bigger stuff that troubles them. There is no need for a thunder in this movie, rather it's a beautiful story where you can just sit back and relax and never have to fear for the sanity and well-being of the characters. This movie is the thoughts everyone of us has, when reading a book or watching movie and something terrible happens. Because in this movie we can see how the characters live when everything goes on normally. Yet the movie doesn't get boring at any time. The dialogs are crafted well and so is the imagery. Sometimes the movie touches you right at your heart, because everyone of us knows how it is to have family. So everyone shares something with the characters. This movie is just the beautiful fairytale that happens all over the world and everyday...

Gigo_Satana You know, family films just aren't what they used to be, and what a wonderful notion that is. The only Ishii film that I've seen prior to The Taste of Tea is Shark Skin Man and Hip Peach Girl, and the maturity level of the director was almost unrecognizable.At first everything in this film feels strangely secluded from the everyday world; the school, the house and the family members who seem extremely timid. The rarely displayed state of normality in family films, as supposed to the somewhat redundant tales of kindred conflicts that Ishii was able to capture, transcended in a refreshing and mesmerizing manner. The behavior of each family member was played out so naturally by the actors that I felt like I was watching a documentary. When the so called "unusual traits" of the family members resurfaces, the transformation is executed smoothly, without wandering off into another genre or changing the intended mood of the film.I rarely get behind ensemble casts but I hope Ishii will maintain the relationship with these actors for his future projects. Asano as always breathes the ethereally inner distance, yet still feels humanely connected to the world and people in it. No matter how often the word 'subtle' is used to describe films, in reality I think it is a rare achievement. Ishii did a great job of taking his time to let us observe each family member as they go through their daily routines and as they attentively take time to watch over each other.After seeing her in Kamikaze Girls, I was hoping to see and especially hear more from Anna Tsuchiya, who I think has a great future ahead of her.I think every bit of detail obtained from the comments and even the poster should give you an idea about what type of film this is. It's comforting to know that in this day and age certain directors don't feel the financial and mainstream strain, and willingly dedicate their time and passion to making such wonderful films.

untrainsec2001 Just some information concerning director Katsuhito Ishii. Cha no Aji is his third feature, he's also an established music video and commercial director. Through his association with Grasshoppa, a production company in Tokyo launched over two years ago, he's also directed several short films, including works in animation. He collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on the anime sequence in Kill Bill vol.1. Cha no Aji shows how an urban family has made the move to the countryside, managing to keep an active, stimulating life, a theme explored by several young directors from Japan. Ishii succeeds in merging the traditional plots of the Japanese family drama with the creative eccentricity of Tokyo trends. Although indie star Tadanobu Asano has appeared in all of Ishii's films, the director's secret weapon is Tatsuya Gashuin, another Ishii regular, who plays the part of the grandfather, a former manga master. Why Katsuhito Ishii's films haven't released overseas remains a mystery...Nobody knows?