Kiseki 2011

Kathleen Murphy, MSN Movies: With almost supernaturally effortless grace, Kore-eda has connected the film's every element, each one pregnant with beauty and meaning... Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Whenever its children are on screen, lighted up with joy or dimmed by hard adult truths, the film burns bright. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: You can contemplate the wonder in these glowing young faces without feeling as if you're on an intravenous drip of corn syrup. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This wise and funny film, in Japanese with English subtitles, works small miracles in depicting the pivotal moment when kids turn from the wishfulness of childhood into shaping the world for themselves. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: You watch it remembering the days when you should have walked but simply had to run, and when you believed that, if you wished hard enough, your dead pet just might come back again. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Full of life, heart, and funny little details about daily existence, as it meanders its way toward moments of real profundity. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: What's so remarkable about the happiness the film brings is its simplicity. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The sort of small film of real consequence that, as a kid, I remember seeing and completely losing myself in: That was my life. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It's an adult movie about children that feels made from the inside out. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: There is a lot of hope in the air in "I Wish," but the film never feels sappy. Read more

Chris Benderev, NPR: More often than not Kore-eda's technique creates space for something truly special in a film: kids talking like kids. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: How does Hirokazu Kore-eda do it? His films are so casually infused with graceful realism, they make other movies feel painfully stilted and false. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A wistful heartbreaker from the Japanese master of quiet observation, Hirokazu Kore-eda. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: [The] film is built around performances by two real-life brothers who are as unaffected, spirited and lovable as I can imagine, and one of the pleasures of "I Wish" is simply spending time with them. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "I Wish" is a wonderful adventure film that's no less thrilling for its modest scale, and a film whose emotional power and intelligence sneak up on you. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: What a kind and wise movie this is. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Like a train, "I Wish" is slow to build momentum, then it carries us away in a wondrous rush. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Every performance works, every character fits, every observation rings true. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Shots of the kids and their friends running around unfamiliar environments have the fantastical qualities of Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, minus the forced whimsy. Read more

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic: Transforms the commonplace into the extraordinary. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: This tale of two elementary-school brothers plotting to end the physical separation their parents' divorce has forced on them effortlessly pulls off the naturalism and charm desired from material that might have easily curdled into calculated preciousness Read more

Alison Willmore, Village Voice: I Wish makes us feel like we are watching these kids discover each new sensory pleasure of youth for the first time, or that we're experiencing it ourselves. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: It's about the wonders of everyday life, and of childhood imagination. Read more