Kirschblüten - Hanami 2008

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: A most beautiful film. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A quiet, moving tale of love and loss. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Cherry Blossoms' compositions are meticulous, and Dorrie modernizes her style with intermittent use of a handheld camera and impressionistic editing. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: There's meat and sustenance there, but Cherry Blossoms too often traffics in shopworn Western notions of Japanese culture; it's a pilgrim's-eye-view of Zen. Read more

Joshua Katzman, Chicago Reader: This may lack the understated pathos of Ozu's somber masterpiece, but it's still a moving meditation on aging and loss, and Wepper and Elsner are unforgettable. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: If you have ever seen Yasujiro Ozu's masterpiece Tokyo Story -- one of the greatest films ever made -- you may respond to Doris Dorrie's Cherry Blossoms, which is a kind of homage. Read more

Adam Markovitz, Entertainment Weekly: There's a grace to it all, and moments of oddball poetry will reward patient viewers. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: The movie's conceits are just barely endurable, but the sharpness of Dorrie's eye -- for Tokyo's electric night, for Fuji's iconographic landscapes, for cherry blossoms -- sustains emotion even when story logic fails. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Refusing to be rushed, Doris Dorrie blends individual experiences with universal emotions to create a quietly moving study of self-discovery. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: At more than two hours, Cherry Blossoms could do with some pruning. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: It is a seldom-told story in an essentially youth-oriented, escapist movie industry, but when it is told sublimely well, as it is by Ms. Dorrie now, and by McCarey in 1937, and by Ozu in 1953, it becomes a film for the ages. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Cherry Blossoms is both austere and garish, simultaneously dry and sentimental, tightly repressed and extravagantly expressive, bourgeois and bohemian. It's a seesaw, but [director] Dorrie finds the balance. Read more

Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle: The movie is an ideal blend of character study, deceptively simple plot twists, inspired acting, and travelogue. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's a gentle lesson in facing life's hardships with acceptance rather than grief. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A uniquely poignant meditation on mortality. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Time Out: All but remaking the 1953 art-house classic Tokyo Story in its first third, Cherry Blossoms fortunately sidesteps rank mimicry in favor of wry homage and something more. Read more

Eddie Cockrell, Variety: Cast is spot-on, with craft package to match. Read more

Ella Taylor, Village Voice: Yearning for Ozu, Dorrie stops off at cute, and parks. Read more