Always san-chôme no yûhi '64

As the ending of a trilogy, Always Sunset on Third Street '64 isn't that great, it feels more like the build-up to the finale but ends before we get there. It also gets very confused about what sort of messaging it wants to send towards how to treat your children, but it ties up all the hanging threads it starts without losing the shtick that made the first two so special in the first place. Great performances, exceptionally wholesome and very well directed, Yamazaki could very well deliver one more film if he so wished, but I respect him for leaving it as a very personal trilogy to both him and his viewers.

The first two films in this series are absolutely wonderful, a mix of family entertainment, comedy, some sadness but ultimately exhilarating in their portraits of family life in Tokyo back in the 50's. This third film brings us to the time of the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 and the kids are growing up. Roku likes a doctor and looks for ways to meet him, the most substantive side story of this film. Otherwise most of the characters have barely changed, they are the same people they were in the other two films. In some series this could pose a problem, but in this it is welcome. There is still a mix of over the top comedy (Suzuki-san especially), pathos, overt sentimentality and somewhat skewed family values. While not quite on the echelon of the first two films, it carries the story forward and that is appreciated. You have to watch the first two before watching this, which will introduce you to the characters, but its well worth your time.

I haven't read the manga, but there's obviously a sequel. Because it's a bad ending as a trilogy. It was such an emotionally designed series that I couldn't get enough enjoyment in the third movie because I was ready for everything but it was very pleasant to watch an adventure that took years with the same actors. The expression of emotions in the movie was very good. It also made me ignore a lot of outdated cultural nonsense. The series was a good family content that stood out with good acting performances from start to finish. It will remain in my memory as one of the most special series I have ever watched.

The year is the year of Tokyo Olympic. Japan is celebrating the opening of the bullet train line. Roku-chan finds the love of her life, and Hiromi becomes pregnant. There's new development for the Suzuki family, and the country of Japan.

I love Ryohei Saigan's comic, and this is the big screen version of his comic by the same title.

But I'm not a big fan of this series because the behavior of the people are not all that high caliber. True, it depicts how people act in normal life, but it lacks class of say like the "Tokyo Story".

I'm not quite sure if this movie succeeded in capturing Saigan's style. Saigan's characters has certain pity to them that makes you want to cry, but characters in this movie are just acting out the role.

Nostalgia is artificial too. It wasn't quite like that back then. The only character that I liked was Tomoe. Hiroko Yakushimaru puts good punctuation to a rather bland story.

Entrance exam to Tokyo University, hardship of a poor writer, young people coming out to Tokyo to work. All are part of the microcosm of '60s Japan, but something isn't authentic about this story. It's the first time I felt like watching CG filled movie that doesn't have that much CG, and I couldn't get into it.