Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
Inspired by the real "affair of the four abandoned children of Nishi-Sugamo" in the late 1980s, in which a mother left her four remaining children in the care of the oldest, a 14-year-old boy, while she moved in with a lover.
Hirokazu Kore-eda tells the story from the children's point of view. Their mother, Keiko (the confusingly-named You), is present erratically: she comes home late, leaving Akira (Yuya Yagira) to do the shopping, much of the cooking, and manage his younger sisters and brother. Eventually she vanishes for good, leaving money for rent and food and vanishing.
It's a nuanced, charmingly childlike exploration of the issues, which firmly balances the positive -- the children are adaptable and, by and large, happy -- with the negative. A.O. Scott accurately described it as "to some extent, a punishing immersion in impotent dread"; to adults, this is a story that can only end badly.
But at the same time, the film's best feature is its reluctance to embrace despair or hysteria. They're just kids, and they play and grow up; Akira makes adolescent mistakes. They're forced to act as adults, but that turns out to be easier than most adults in the audience will think.
A remarkable film with remarkable performances -- don't miss.