Rent Still Walking (2008)

Beautifully acted family drama - Still Walking review by CM

The loss of a child must be the worst thing that can happen to a parent. This film takes a snapshot of a family which has suffered just such a tragedy.

Every year, on the anniversary of the death of the family's oldest son, the remaining son and a daughter (plus their partners and children) gather at their parents house to commemorate the deceased son and we join the family on one such occasion. The film gives the impression that the surviving siblings can never live up to the memory of their older brother and the death seems to have driven a permanent wedge between many of the family relationships - between the two parents, for example, and between the father and the second son. In a way, this family seems to have suffered two tragedies, the death of the son and the subsequent impact it has had on the relationships between the rest of the family. It is the latter of these which the film really focuses on.

If none of that sounds like very cheery viewing, the film is still very much worth watching. The writing and the acting are superb. Although a particular sadness has beset this family, the dynamics are of a sort that can be seen in many families. For the most part the relationships are characterised more by sniping and distance (emotional and physical) than by out and out arguments but there are also moments of warmth and humanity. Ultimately, despite a lack of drama or action in the film it manages to be compelling viewing.

Family Love, Served Cold - Still Walking review by griggs

Family gatherings are meant to be comforting. This one feels more like sitting too close to a radiator: warm, but slightly unbearable if you stay long enough. The Ozu lineage is obvious — especially Tokyo Story — in the low-key framing, the unforced humour, and the way routine becomes the drama.

The set-up is simple: an ageing couple, a son who never quite matches the version they hoped for, and the absent presence of the child they lost. Grief doesn’t arrive as a speech. It shows up as a paused sentence, a petty remark, a tradition that’s turned into a quiet little weapon. Love is there too, but it’s stubborn and badly expressed.

The parents wear disappointment like armour, yet the film keeps letting you glimpse what’s underneath. Meals do most of the talking: truths slip out over plates, and new ones get quietly filed away in the calmer, more meditative moments. Still Walking is gentle, but it doesn’t let anyone off the hook.

Splendid observant film - Still Walking review by KB

From whichever industrialized nation one lives, this slow-ish Japanese movie tells a story centred round a family of three generations which would could be told from many film-makers in many of the worlds industrial countries. Expectations, how to cope with ailing health in parents, grand-children, how to learn to forgive all centres round the grandparents house over a few years. Good script, well played acting and camera. Not a popcorn movie though!!