The Old Die Young: Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms (2008, directed by Dorris Dorrie) This movie opened the Berlin and Beyond film festival at the Castro Theater last week. I reviewed it for something else, which I'll link to asap, but I'll say a bit about it here too.

It was pretty good. The problem is, I can't exactly recommend it to anybody who's likely to read this. Except my mom I guess.

It's about an elderly German couple living in the countryside. They're a bother to their children. The husband is a typical German hard working, very endearing, grouch. His wife is a free spirit who hasn't exactly fulfilled her life's ambitions, but who's more or less content with life. Tragedy befalls and a journey to Tokyo is the only way to complete life's journey.

The movie is good. The acting is excellent, the story moves at a good pace, and it does a magnificent job of balancing humor and despair, often back to back. On the downside, it's a little too Zen for me, even with my extreme patience toward everything East Asian. And a couple brief moments border on the cusp of hokeyness. Also, the ending credit sequence is total crap.

All in all, I have to recommend this movie. It is certainly good. It simply didn't have a whole lot to say to me. The themes are "timeless" and shit, but more often than not, I don't want timeless.

Netflix rating: 3.5 stars
RIYL: uh...old German people, Japan, movies about finding peace and whatnot, also, After Life, Tokyo Story

(embedding trailers? better?)