Our Little Sister (2015)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Our Little Sister (2015) – H. Kore-eda

Kore-eda makes mature family dramas that are filled with warmth and sensitivity, not as serious as Ozu often got and with less rancor and hurt than Naruse let in.  Perhaps things sometimes get too mushy, as the films yearn to touch your heart, but they never lose their grasp on realism.  Our Little Sister, based on a manga called Umi-Machi Diary, shows us three sisters, abandoned by their parents but living fine under one old roof in Kamakura, Japan, who take in their younger half-sister when their father dies up north.  We observe their relationships with each other, with the boys/men in their lives (relegated to bit parts), with their absentee mother, and with the dying owner of a local café.  Loss, betrayal, forgiveness, and our common humanity are on display. The four actresses (some who are popular celebrities in Japan) create distinctive characters with different foibles and trajectories, although the plot does not bring any of these trajectories to a resolution. We partake in this slice of life. All the while, Kore-eda creates sublime images, often in the quiet spaces between scenes, and Japan looks stunningly beautiful (cherry blossoms, fireworks, and all).