Aruitemo aruitemo 2008

Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times: This masterful family drama by Japanese writer- director Hirokazu Kore-eda commences on a deceptively tranquil note, lightly spiced with a needling humor. Read more

Sam Adams, AV Club: Hirokazu Kore-Eda's home drama Still Walking is a master class in doing much with little. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Though [Koreeda] has made a film of droll and dry observational precision, its emotional minimalism is almost fetishistic -- and, by the end, a tad frustrating. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It will strongly move you, but you won't be able to say exactly why. It illuminates 24 hours in the life of a Japanese family, and though it may appear that not much is happening, by the end everything is revealed. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Kore-eda has an extraordinary grasp on his characters, modest people who clearly mean a great deal to him. They will to you, as well. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Kore-eda, talented director that he is, never allows the story to sink into soap-opera melodrama, and he refrains from pointing fingers. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Pitch-perfect and profoundly moving... Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The tone is perfect; this is one of those rare films that, despite being rooted firmly in the world around us, is utterly absorbing and capable of reducing the immediacies of life into abstract thoughts in the back of one's mind. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: If anyone can be considered an heir of the great Yasujiro Ozu, it might be Hirokazu Kore-Eda, the writer and director of Still Walking. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: The director has said that, though the story was inspired by the deaths of his parents, he hoped to make a film "brimming with life." He's succeeded. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Still Walking strikes an extraordinary balance between the moment-to-moment pleasure of life and the inevitable regret that accompanies time's passing. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Still Walking is a miniaturist's masterpiece, the ebb and flow of familial love distilled to its essence. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Koreeda's almost sage-like understanding of what makes modern families tick places him and this wonderful film in the league of Japan's grand master, Ozu, and you can't ask for higher praise than that. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Its modest surface belies the depths of a lovely seriocomedy that concisely lays bare all kinds of uncomfortable dynamics in seemingly casual, low-key fashion. Read more

Anthony Kaufman, Village Voice: A delicate, deceptively simple film. Read more