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Our Little Sister

Original title: Umimachi Diary
  • 2015
  • PG
  • 2h 7m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
18K
YOUR RATING
Masami Nagasawa, Haruka Ayase, Kaho, and Suzu Hirose in Our Little Sister (2015)
A story that revolves around three sisters who live in their grandmother's home and the arrival of their thirteen-year-old half sister.
Play trailer2:01
15 Videos
86 Photos
DramaFamily

Three sisters live together in Kamakura. When their father - absent for 15 years - dies, they travel to the countryside for his funeral and meet their half-sister. Bonding quickly with the o... Read allThree sisters live together in Kamakura. When their father - absent for 15 years - dies, they travel to the countryside for his funeral and meet their half-sister. Bonding quickly with the orphaned Suzu, they invite her to live with them.Three sisters live together in Kamakura. When their father - absent for 15 years - dies, they travel to the countryside for his funeral and meet their half-sister. Bonding quickly with the orphaned Suzu, they invite her to live with them.

  • Director
    • Hirokazu Koreeda
  • Writers
    • Akimi Yoshida
    • Hirokazu Koreeda
  • Stars
    • Haruka Ayase
    • Masami Nagasawa
    • Kaho
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    18K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Hirokazu Koreeda
    • Writers
      • Akimi Yoshida
      • Hirokazu Koreeda
    • Stars
      • Haruka Ayase
      • Masami Nagasawa
      • Kaho
    • 73User reviews
    • 162Critic reviews
    • 75Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 16 wins & 24 nominations total

    Videos15

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:01
    Official Trailer
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    Clip 1:23
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    Clip 1:44
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    Clip 1:36
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    Photos86

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    Top cast64

    Edit
    Haruka Ayase
    Haruka Ayase
    • Sachi Kôda
    Masami Nagasawa
    Masami Nagasawa
    • Yoshino Kôda
    Kaho
    • Chika Kôda
    Suzu Hirose
    Suzu Hirose
    • Suzu Asano
    Ryô Kase
    Ryô Kase
    • Yoshimi Sakashita
    Ryohei Suzuki
    Ryohei Suzuki
    • Dr. Yasuyuki Inoue
    • (as Ryôhei Suzuki)
    Takafumi Ikeda
    • Sanzo Hamada
    Kentarô Sakaguchi
    Kentarô Sakaguchi
    • Tomoaki Fujii
    Ôshirô Maeda
    • Fûta Ozaki
    • (as Ohshiroh Maeda)
    Midoriko Kimura
    Midoriko Kimura
    • Hideko Takano
    Yûko Nakamura
    • Yôko Asano
    Jun Fubuki
    • Sachiko Ninomiya
    Kazuaki Shimizu
    • Toshio Iida
    Kaoru Hirata
    Shin'ichi Tsutsumi
    Shin'ichi Tsutsumi
    • Dr. Kazuya Shiina
    Masumi Nomura
    • Nurse
    Shinobu Ôtake
    • Miyako Sasaki
    Fight Seki
    • Masashi Ogata
    • Director
      • Hirokazu Koreeda
    • Writers
      • Akimi Yoshida
      • Hirokazu Koreeda
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews73

    7.618.1K
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    Featured reviews

    8tenshi_ippikiookami

    Family matters

    "Our Little Sister" centers around four sisters, their lives and their relationships. It may look like a small, complacent, too slow and contemplative movie, but Koreeda, with the help of amazing acting all around, elevates the proceedings and delivers a really good movie.

    Sachi, Yoshino and Chika are three sisters that have lived together for some years. Their father left, marrying again, and their mother run away, leaving them behind. The death of the father brings all of them to his funeral, where they meet their half-sister Suzu. Sachi, the oldest, offers Suzu go living with them, and Suzu accepts, the four starting to live together.

    From that moment on the movie develops slowly, but securely, with great character development, a couple of very touching moments, and a focus on human relationships and the reasons behind our behavior. That Koreeda has restrained Haruka Ayase, charming Masami Nagasawa, happy-go-lucky Kaho and innocent but smart looking Suzu Hirose as the four sisters helps, as they embody their characters and bring them to life. The plot helps, with little vignettes that help develop the story and entice the viewer's attention.

    The movie is a little bit slow, but you won't care, because what you will care about is these four sisters, their world, their problems and the relationship they have between themselves and with all that surrounds them. Great.
    10vexyl

    loved it !

    This movie is 128 minutes long and at the end i was hoping it could go on for two more hours. For me it is the essence of what cinema should be. Great story real characters and real life ! Just a few days before i was watching SW7 and thought it was an OK movie but while watching "our little sister" i was realizing how much better cinema can be and how bad most Hollywood blockbusters really are. I know its like comparing a Michelin star cook to Mc Donald's but when you tasted both you realize one is art and one is fast food. One you eat because you're hungry (bored) and one because it tastes great. This movie is art because it touches you in a special way ... not you ego but your humanity.

    Compared to Hirokazu Koreeda previous movie "like father like son" the story is very loose sometime you even think there is none. You also get tricked by the expectations other movies force you to have by repeating the same motives over and over again. I'm not sure if this is intentional or the movie is just so different.

    Like most Japanese or Asian movies there is some stuff that could be a little bit to slapstick and melodramatic for western viewers but that's a very small price to pay.

    If you don't count anime "our little sister" makes it in my top 5 Asian movies of all time. I highly recommend it.
    8De_Sam

    In one of the most paternalistic countries in the world, one film aces the Bechdel test.

    The adaptation of a graphic novel to film may seem more easily attainable than other media, it can still suffer from the same problems. Hirokazu Koreeda, with his attention to details, did a marvellous job with this film. I noticed many cabiria- movements throughout the film, I suppose mimicking the movement of the reader's eyes.

    Koreeda was also a good fit for the subject of the story, his last film Like Father, Like Son also handled relations between reunited family members. This time the most defining aspect is the role of the female in Japan, still a very paternalistic country, yet as the film shows they have no difficulty living on their own. Every film is an image of its time and Our Little Sister shows that times have changed, this case for the better.

    The cinematography was very beautiful, to the point were I would recommend trying to watch Our Little Sister on the big screen. The long-shots of natural views are breath-taking. Furthermore, the script and the film feel very precise, no doubt the outcome of Hirokazu Koreeda writing the screenplay, directing and editing the film.
    8daisukereds

    Ah, what a beautiful film

    The source material (manga) is masterfully adapted into a 2 hour film. Excellent cast, direction, cinematography, everything in it (Kamakura is such a beautiful place)! I fell in love with all the characters (I specially liked Midoriko Kimura's role of the Cafe owner)..

    Everything in this movie feels so real, and lively. But also filled with emotions. And the theme and general feeling (what you take with you once done) is quite heavy, even if it is something simple we can all understand. I love the kind of stories that put a smile on my face, even if I felt my heart being tugged a bit. You can see the love that was put in it by everyone involved.

    Would easily recommend to anyone.. specially to those that sometimes just stop to realize they are alive.
    7themadmovieman

    Wonderfully understated and brilliantly immersive

    This is by no means a simple watch, but it's a hugely pleasant one. Our Little Sister is a perfect example of how a slow, calm and natural film can pull you in so much deeper than something big and loud, with fantastic performances, beautiful directing, brilliant dialogue and an emotionally impressive, but never melodramatic story.

    The most striking thing about this film is the directing. It's all very understated, but the director is so brilliant at giving you staggeringly beautiful vistas of the countryside landscape of Japan. It never takes over what's happening in the story, but the way that the natural world is presented in this film is so special, and makes it an absolute joy to watch.

    The performances are great too. Again, with a very quiet and understated story, the actors all do a fantastic job at providing interesting drama and engaging character development, which makes the slow pacing of this film feel almost invisible, as you're able to be pulled in so effectively by the very human, realistic performances, which was so impressive to see.

    And that ability to create a realistic drama continues in the film's dialogue. The performances are all fantastic, but without the brilliantly-written dialogue, that feels so natural and real, this film may not have been as brilliantly engrossing as it is. Luckily, however, every line is so well-crafted, and fits so well with whatever's going on on screen, that you become totally immersed in this film as if you're right there taking part in these conversations.

    This is effectively a 'slice of life' drama, where we're not getting an over-the-top, cinematic melodrama, but one that just peers into some people's lives, and makes a compelling story out of it.

    That's true for a lot of the film, and I definitely enjoyed following the brilliant plot here, but if there is one complaint that I do have with Our Little Sister, it lies within the way the story is told. Understated films are fantastic, and shouldn't be overlooked, but in this film, I felt as if it was just a little too quiet in its opening stage to get you fully up to speed with what's going on.

    Don't get me wrong, the calm nature of the film is beautiful for the most part, but for the first twenty minutes or so, I did feel a little lost with the characters' various backgrounds and relationships due to little early exposition, which made for an occasionally frustrating watch at the beginning.

    Overall, however, Our Little Sister is a wonderful film, and it uses understated drama in a brilliantly realistic and immersive way, helped further by great performances and fantastic directing.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Before they shot the movie, four actresses spent a day at the house together to get familiarized with the layout of the house and get comfortable with each other. They cleaned the house, weeded the garden, cooked meals and ate together. They also fixed the shoji screen, which Koreeda liked it so much that he incorporated the scene in the movie.
    • Goofs
      When the four sisters are having their lunch with Chika's boyfriend at their house, in the interior shot looking outward, all the noodles on the main plate have been eaten.

      In the next scene, an exterior scene looking inward to the house, Sachi reaches down and takes the plate away but Chika reaches up and takes several noodles off the plate with her chopsticks.
    • Quotes

      Sachi Kôda: I want you to stay forever.

      Suzu Asano: I want to stay forever.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Il était une fois...: Une affaire de famille (2021)

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    FAQ18

    • How long is Our Little Sister?Powered by Alexa

    Details

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    • Release date
      • June 13, 2015 (Japan)
    • Countries of origin
      • Japan
      • France
    • Official sites
      • Japanese)
      • Official site
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Kamakura Diary
    • Filming locations
      • Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan(town where the three sisters live)
    • Production companies
      • Fuji IG Laboratory for Movies (FILM)
      • Fuji Television Network (Fuji TV)
      • Gaga
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $467,555
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $25,118
      • Jul 10, 2016
    • Gross worldwide
      • $15,946,109
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 7m(127 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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