Nobody Knows Reviews

The movie is a grounded drama. Very cleverly made. Technical-wise, I say it's brilliant! Cinematography is visually engaging, Music matches the mood although there some dry and plain parts. I do think music can be patched up into some parts of the movie. But, I commend the simplicity of its form. The build-up of the story is quite intense. It perfectly played well the drive coming from the plot and coming from the characters. Direction is amazing because the emotion was conveyed properly. Characters played well, although I think in writer's perspective, some characters can be build up to make them stronger. Akira's character is very strong, intense, and the one that drives the story forward. Yuki has a very important role, she played well too, but I think the depth of her character can still be improved. However, the symbol of innocence carefully tagged to her was amazing. Shigeru was the balance that compliments the turmoil of the story. I do think his character was well-thought of. Kyoko's character on the other hand, was very light so I speak. She's the one that could possibly cannot let go of the image of the mother, that's a great storyline. But her individual journey as a character got stucked up somewhere. I didn't see character development in the end.

I rated it 9 because for some reason, I wasn't really intensely moved by it. I do think, some special element was missing from the story. I think there was no resolution in the character's perspective. By resolution, I do not mean that the mother will come back (that's basically such a lame ending if they did it that way), and also not for an outsider or anybody else discovering and taking care of them (an ending like this will definitely kill the story)... What I mean is, the individual resolution inside Akira's character. Yes, he grew a lot so as his brothers and sisters, but him as a challenger of defeat wasn't. The story ended just as it is. No even resolution for the viewers to make. The actual action of change that is supposed to come out after the death of their sister did not surface that much. The idea was, but the realistic movement of emotion did not. That's why I say, something lacks. But really, i rated it 9 because it's a wonderful movie. Naturally visualized. And the perfect combo of symbols was very clever. KUDOS direct Hirokazu Koreeda! ^_^

To be honest, I wonder how actually ended up watching this flick. If I recall it correctly, I read some good things about it on our TV magazine and I thought I might as well check it out. Usually, I don’t really care about true stories but this one was just really heartbreaking and, apparently, the original event called the Sugamo child abandonment case was actually even more worse (to think that, in real life, the mother regained custody of the two daughters after 3 years in jail is also rather mind-blowing). Anyway, it was definitely a strong story and, on top of that, the directing and the acting were very good as well. Apparently, the director Hirokazu Koreeda spent a lot of time with the children to make sure that they could really express themselves freely as a genuine children without too much interaction from any adults. Indeed, in most movies, children actually act following the stereotypes grown-ups have but, here, the acting felt really natural, believable and quite spellbinding to watch. To conclude, I think it was a really shocking and fascinating drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Asian movies.

The story starts out with a mother and son moving into a new apartment, and all seems normal. The mother is cute and funny, and the son is smart and helpful. But as the story unfolds, you learn that there are two younger children safely hiding in suitcases. And yet later, an older daughter waiting at the train station until after dark to sneak in. Not having read anything about this movie before, I loved the way things came to light slowly, naturally without it being served to us on a platter. And the movie has much more to give, and the watcher much more to learn. Later in the movie, however, things begin to drag. The movie does do an excellent job of creating a mood, and for those who have never been to Japan it does an excellent job of showing a real Japanese neighborhood. But prepared to have these things done slowly and without rhythm.

The acting is good , the story as well - it is a coming of age story and still the movie seemed a bit too long and slow paced. I liked some of the scenes - and really admired what the young Akira did for his brothers and sisters - he was taking care of them when they were abandoned by their mother - locked between four walls - no one knew about them.