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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Family gatherings can be complicated, no matter what country you are from. This basic fact of life is presented from a Japanese point of view in the well-performed yet dullish drama Still Walking.

It's a warm summer's day when Ryota Yokoyama (Hiroshi Abe) reluctantly makes the trek back to the quiet seaside town that he once called home. With his wife, Yukari (Yui Natsukawa) and his 10-year-old stepson, Atsushi (Shohei Tanaka) in tow, he returns to his elderly parents' house for the first time in many years.

Ryota's friendly sister, Chinami (You) and her husband, Nobuo (Kazuya Takahashi) are also visiting with their two children, which are about the same age as Atsushi whose biological father died when he was much younger. Old stories are shared with a few laughs throughout an afternoon meal, however, a shadow haunts their reunion.

More than a dozen years earlier, Ryota's parents Kyohei (Yoshi Harada) and Toshiko (Kirin Kiki) eldest son drowned while trying to save someone else. Neither parent has been able to move on with their lives since. Kyohei, a retired doctor, is distant, petty and barely speaks to Ryota whom he's forever disappointed with and accuses having "left the family." Toshiko is full of hatred for the boy who their son saved and she treats Yukari and Atsushi as guests rather than as family.


While Ryota does share some tender moments with his mother and has one decent conversation with his father, he is relieved when the brief visit is finally over.

Still Walking is often as serene as the town it's set in. This is sometimes a problem because it can inspire the same kind of sleepiness you might experience while listening to a 3-hour lecture on how white cheese is made. The screenplay lacks any real bite to it as we're left feeling like the same aimless butterfly that appears in the film. Furthermore, the intended bits of humor sprinkled throughout fall flat and its director, Hirokazu Koreeda wastes time with shots that unnecessarily linger on the sky or trees or an empty room. I chalk up the latter to the director trying to be too artistic.

With that said, the cast of Still Walking deliver solid performances throughout. The film also offers some interesting insight into the life of a Japanese family that experiences difficulties that any family from any country could  identify with.

On a letter grade scale from A being excellent to F for failing, Still Walking receives a C+.
    
Still Walking is rated PG and has a running time of 114 minutes.

Now showing through January 14 @
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for show times.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.