Ilvinai

The Asadas is a middle-class family living in a small fisherman's village in Japan. The mother provides the sole income to the family, working as a nurse, while a stay-at-home dad takes care of the house and their two sons.

Masashi is the main protagonist. He's the youngest brother and picks up photography from the very young age. However he does it his own way: with love and a prerequisite to fully understand his subject before taking the picture.

Despite cultural gaps (I'm French), the universality of individual choices that makes Masashi and family importance resonated in me.

First, Masashi pursues photography, a true passion of his, despite difficulties that can arise from an artistic career. He initiates projects, driven by inspiration or opportunities, without a clear career plan. As the movie progresses, dots connect. His life is punctuated by moments of doubts, limbo, but also bursts of creativity and compassion. This made me feel hopeful: at the end, if I follow my passion, everything will make sense at the end and I'll be able to contribute positively to the world in my own way.

The movie also stroke my family chord, as it reminded of all the fun and safe moments I have the chance to experience family. It made me appreciate what I have.

I fully recommend yo uto see this movie: it is subtle, heart-warming, and uplifting.

From the very first scene, I was transported back into the 30s: cigars, large suits, slang, large painted or built decors, and of course music! All the ingredients of a great illusion (or movie) were there.

As soon as I forgot that I was in 2023, I was taken by a plot that's a classical hero journey; meaning a hero meets a broken master, and together they learn from each other and find peace together in world filled with crime, corruption, and economic depression. Beyond this trivial plot, the storytelling offered multiple layers of mystery and reveals, to a point where I almost believed that I was the fool of the sting myself.

During several scenes I've noticed that I was literally sitting at the edge of my seat, surpassing the suspense of more recent heavy budget heist or spy movies. This is mostly due to the great screen chemistry and charisma of Robert Redford (Johnny Hooker) and Paul Newman (Henry Gondorff), the most American actors ever.

The only draw-back was that dialogues were heavy with slang and 30s accents that were difficult for me to understand, probably as I'm a non-native speaker. But this only reinforced the immersion.