They Say Nothing Stays the Same

They say nothing stays the same, which is the english translation of the japanese original. Toichi has been bringing people and their things back and forth across the river for many years. But now, they are building a bridge which will probably put him out of business. One day, toichi rescues a girl, found floating in the river, but she takes a long time to start talking. Meanwhile, he talks things over with his friend nihei. The lesson here seems to be that the ferryman takes the time to listen to the traveler's story, and passes them along to others. Now with the new bridge, the histories of everyone's lives will be lost, since they don't talk and interact. It's pretty long, at two hours, seventeen minutes. Lots of long, quiet scenes, where all we hear are the crickets in the distance. Confusing scenes in the last twenty minutes. The subplot of the girl, and what she goes through just seem to add to the confusion. We get the message, but it was a long way to go for the result. It's mostly good. Could have been shorter. Written and directed by joe odagiri.