Anoko wa kizoku

One of the best Japanese movies to come out in at least a decade, director Yukiko Sode's "Anoko wa Kizoku" was an engrossing and introspective journey into the lives of characters Hanako and Miki in a the beautiful city and town scapes of Japan. It is close to a masterpiece. I absolutely was mesmerized by the attention to Japanese societal subtleties and the nuances and diverging class cultures tangling up young Japanese women of the 2010's decade. Like many societies, there is a push/pull and slow change generationally, and that is on display between parents and daughter characters in terms of expectations in dialog. I particularly found co-lead Mugi Kadowaki fantastic - in no small part to the outstanding direction and script - her inner-turmoil both director and actress managed to express with powerful authenticity. Loved this movie caught on a recent flight - a true gem of character film-making and beauty.

This film drives you through different perspectives on the issue of social class. A complex and heavy pressure that family, context, culture and traditions put on the shoulders of these beautifully developed characters. Who try very hard to be free on their own.

Chapter by chapter, you start drowning slowly in the history and emotions that these characters are going through, in pursuit of true happiness.

Watch as part of jpp Australia thank you!

I really enjoyed this movie in the way I enjoy uzo movies. That slower progression to reveal subtleties of Japanese culture which an outside can never touch.

The trick of this story is that it's takes a feminine view, very even handed, whilst showing the hierarchical society with its taboos and expectations. The slap to face by mother in law when her lineage is betrayed focuses where values are held.

Watch directors previous movie of iron foundry owners daughter to continue this subtle exposure of Japanese class for 20 somethings.

Between women the society often subtly shapes an conflicting views, and this movie is a like a literature helps us see the deeply better world.

Also the income inequality and social classes wouldn't always make the rich growing kids blessed, this shapes the better open questions for all to answer again.

A tale in reverse, in which the young woman from a good family is the one who envies the humble girl. But above all, it is a beautiful story of friendship between women. "Wherever you're from, you have great days and days that make you cry." A story of liberation in which class differences become seemingly insurmountable walls, but which can be torn down. An achievement of the director that thrills without artifice.