This is a most audacious debut by Hirokazu Koreeda, who hitherto had simply made a couple of documentaries. There is only a slight story and daringly long held shots but it works. From the very beginning we are spellbound by the framing and specific look of every frame. There is something of the documentary in that there is a feeling we are simply following ordinary people as they go about their lives but the look is so utterly beautiful throughout. Whether a partial facial close-up, the side of a house or street lights on a bridge, all is so framed as to transfix the viewer. A story does gradually unfold and it is as if we are part of it, bound up in the early death of a husband, the development of a young boy and the effect of the environment on the families struggling against the elements. Most impressive and beautiful film.
Review of Maborosi
