Redundant and unnecessary.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

My wife and I saw this little gem of a film last night at a Japanese festival in Montreal and loved it. That being said I want to comment on the negative reviews about the film.I find the comments veer towards the overly glib and formulaic. The film does not meet this or that film model. It did not accurately represent the the reality of post war Japan (most reviewers are not qualified to knowledgeably opine on that reality). And the most ludicrous of them all; it tried to make me feel too good, etc.Come on people, stop deconstructing; some times a cigar is just a cigar. The story is the story, the acting the acting. Get your heads out of film class and just have a good time if that is where this film leads you. Otherwise, stop trying to keep others from having a good time.

Who would have thought that director Yamazaki Takashi, the man behind such big sci-fi action films as "Returner" and "Juvenille" was capable of directing such a sweet and heart-touching movie about the importance of family, nostalgia and community.Set amidst the backdrop of the construction of the Tokyo Tower (1957-1958), "Always San Chome No Yuhi" (Always - Sunset On Third Street) follows a young high school student from the northern prefecture of Aomori, Hoshino Mutsuko (Horikita Maki) a recent Junior High graduate who is now off to Tokyo, having been accepted for employment at a "prestigious" Auto Company. However much to her chagrin and disappointment, Mutsuko discovers that the cozy job of her dreams is merely an apprentice mechanic's position with a small struggling auto repair store. It's owner, the proud and hot-tempered Suzuki Norifumi (Tsutsumi Shinichi) a former soldier and himself a country boy had come to Tokyo with dreams of setting up his own car factory. Norifumi is equally disappointed that his request for a first rate mechanic went wrong (Suzuki had misread Mutsuko's resume which stated that she had taken courses in bicycle "jitensha" repair and not car "jidousha" repair). Conflicts arise as Mutsuko struggles to learn the car repair business from Suzuki. Her only allies at home are Suzuki's kindly wife Tomoe (Yakushimaru Hiroko) and Suzuki's rascally young son Ippei (Koshimizu Kazuki).Across the way, struggling writer and neighbor Chagawa Ryunosuke is also having a battle with harsh reality. Despite graduating from acclaimed Tokyo University (Todai) with a literature degree, he still can't get descent work as a writer. To make ends meet he frequently submits sci-fi and adventure stories to a weekly "Shonen" (young boys) magazine even though he considers it trivial and unfulfilled work. He just barely makes ends meet through sales of kids toys and candy at his grandmother's store, which he inherited. His world suddenly changes when the local bar madam, Ishizaki Hiromi (Koyuki) a former dancer, asks him to take care of an associate's little boy, Junnosuke (Suga Kenta). Unable to say no to the beautiful madam, Ryunosuke takes in the shy and distant boy. As fate would have it Junnosuke turns out to be a big fan of Ryunosuke's "Shonen Magazine" work and a father-son bond slowly begins to form between the two. Even Hiromi soon begins to fall for the nebbish writer, after seeing how well he looks after Junnosuke.The screenplay by Yamazaki and Furusawa Ryota was adapted from Saigan Ryohei's Shogakukan/Big Comic Original manga (comic) series "Yuyake No Uta-San Chome No Yuhi" which told various nostalgic stories about different kids, teens and characters living in Tokyo of the 1950s and how they adapted to Japan's ever changing cultural, technological and social climate. While the movie does take much of it's inspiration from the manga, it also seems very much influenced by Robert Zemeckis's "Forrest Gump" particularly in the way it played with real historical events and characters in its story. "Always..." does something similar though somewhat eschewing some factual accounts.The character of Suzuki Norifumi is most certainly based on real life founder of "Suzuki Motors" Suzuki Michio, although his rise to fame is different. Ryunosuke Chagawa is most likely based on 1920's author Ryunosuke Akutagawa, the father of Japanese short stories and whose work Kurosawa Akira adapted in the film "Rashomon". While I'm not completely certain, the character of Furuyuki Junnosuke may also be an amalgam based on real life manga-ka (comic artist/writers) Matsumoto Leiji and Ishinomori Shoutaro. As other have mentioned, some of the performances bordered on the frantic and melodramatic particularly Yoshioka Hidetaka (Tora-San series, "Ame Agaru") as Chagawa and Tsutsumi Shinichi ("Lorelei", "Kyogokudo", "Drive") as Suzuki but it wasn't at all to the point of absurdity, just slightly forced. Yakushimaru Hiroko's role as atypical Japanese mother Suzuki Tomoe follows a long string of motherly roles shes played of late ("Ichi Liter No Namida", "Bubble E Go!" etc.) and is definitely in stark contrast to her Kadokawa idol days in movies such as "Sailor Fuku To Kikanjyu" and "Tantei Monogatari". Model-actress Koyuki ("Alive", "Last Samurai", "Kairo") is steadily becoming one of my favorite actresses as she always plays interesting characters. As the former dancer turned bar hostess Ishizaki Hiromi, she brings likable charm to the role. Her scenes with Yoshioka are heartfelt and you can't help but be touched by their offbeat but tender romance (similar to "Densha Otoko" in some ways).Special mention should be given to VFX Supervisor/Director Shibuya Kiyoko for the incredible CGI/miniature work that brought to life the world of 1958 Tokyo. From the architecture to the vehicles to the fashion, I was reminded of Peter Jackson's similar eye for detail for his remake of "King Kong" set in the 1930s. It was absolutely beautiful work and I kept asking myself how they were able to do it (they eventually released a separate DVD showing the production). Some of the humor and cultural references may be lost in translation by some, such as the mistakes regarding Mutsuko's name (Rokku-chan/Number 6) or the hype over wrestler Rikidozan or the nostalgia of riding the C62 train (before the Shinkansen took over). I kind of laughed at some of the cultural references and jokes that came up concerning House Curry, Coca-Cola, and the "Taiyozoku" (Sun Tribe).While some have called the movie a bit overly sentimental in its longings and nostalgia, I think that is what made the movie good. Like the classic Tora-San movies, it recalls a time when life in Japan wasn't so hectic, frantic and chaotic. It was a time where everyone in the various communities did really know each other and helped one another as good neighbors should. Even though I'm a child of the 1980s, I still appreciated this look to the past and didn't see it as an overly romantic point of view.

I understand that some people love such retro film. But I think this film not at all a good example of the genre.There are good films in this genre--"The Sting",for example. In good retro films authors don't rely upon the nostalgic atmosphere,which is different by nationalities and which can not at all be the main problem of filmmakers. Good retro films have original, well-composed interesting stories and good actors, who can keep silent or simply walk around with absolute authenticity of the roles. And of course, director of this genre must understand that retro films are stylized genre in the end, because naive admiration of the past may easily turn into a conservative, nationalistic political manifesto(Really the campaign for this film's domestic sales,including DVD release, gradually have got such nuance, saying "We are happy to have been born in Japan"!). Not one of these important points was kept in mind or resolved by the authors of this film.As a results,this film seems very naive. The story is banal, actors are too easily overacting,and the worst of all, there are plenty of CG images, without which good directors could have told the same story more effectively.

This is a very touching and well-made film, but someone sprinkled it with a little too much fairy dust. I was with it every step of the way, handkerchief in hand for the clockwork gushes that punctuate virtually every dramatic segment with almost pornographic regularity. But this is not a very honest picture of life in Tokyo in 1958, in spite of the insistence that the construction of the city (the bigger picture of society, economy, etc represented by the gradual erecting of Tokyo Tower in the background) is of a piece with the micro-narratives of small individuals going about life on an inconsequential block somewhere in the urban sprawl. Still, whatever project this Disney-esquire nostalgia is serving, I can't discount the film's magic too much. I'm one to prefer a little dark cynicism over what strikes me as a kind of Tinkerbell fraudulence, but I have to admit that this movie is pretty good at what it does.