It's a very Japanese understanding of suicide: as not bluntly tragic or a waste, but alluring, mysterious, not subject to total comprehension ... the state of grief itself.

| Jun 30, 2020

A film of feelings and textures that establishes character without the need for traditional plot structures.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 3, 2019

Generally, this film engages more intellectually with emotion than Kore-eda's later more heartfelt work.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 2, 2019

Based on a prize-winning Japanese short story and much influenced by the styles of Yasujiro Ozu and Hou Hsiao-Hsien, this is a deeply felt film that eschews cheap sentiment and leaves one genuinely moved and unexpectedly uplifted.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 28, 2019

The camera rarely moves and yet there are images here as strikingly lovely as any you've seen and others as sweetly alive.

| Apr 26, 2019

It is a sombre and painful drama, enacted with reserve.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 24, 2019

Each character moves and speaks differently, shining with the complex inner life of a real person with real needs, real memories, real thoughts.

| Jul 21, 2018

A pure pleasure to watch.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 13, 2018

The tale is told in contemplative wide-angle shots; the absence of any spurious, unearned intimacy with the characters makes the climactic scenes profoundly moving.

| Jun 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 9, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 19, 2005

[Hirokazu's] also one of the most empathetic filmmakers, softly guiding viewers through his meditations on life and death.

| Original Score: A | Jul 16, 2005

Widow tries to find out why her husband killed himself. Slow-paced but moving Japanese drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 7, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Oct 10, 2004

The film uses natural lighting exclusively, eschewing staged settings as often as possible and keeping some nighttime scenes entirely in the dark, an eerie mirror to Yumiko's wounded heart.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 25, 2004

A superior film.

| Original Score: A- | Aug 16, 2003

The film, which was made with only natural light, draws the viewer into its spiritual mood with one breathtaking shot after another, as the camera draws back to contemplate Yumiko from afar.

Full Review | May 20, 2003

Though the audience always remains at a distance, both physical and emotional, from Yumiko, her sense of loss and her inner journey are made vivid by purely filmic means.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 5, 2002

This is a powerful and profound Japanese film about one woman's long and arduous journey through grief's labyrinth.

| Mar 1, 2002

Nothing is casual and nothing is wasted in Maborosi.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 1, 2000