I love this movie so much

Good movie but grossly overrated

Boring

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Pre-teen brothers Ryunosuke and Koichi (played by real-life brothers Ohshirô and Koki Maeda) are forced to live apart when their separated parents end up residing in opposite ends of Kyushu. Ryunosuke broods on this, while Koichi seems more at ease with the arrangements. Together, the brothers hatch a plan to meet at the point where the new shinkansen trains pass each other, after hearing an urban legend that the vortex created by the speed of the trains has the power to grant wishes. Meanwhile, granddad tries out a new sponge cake recipe, a friend of Koichi's has acting ambitions, and Dad is writing a new song.The usual Kore-eda themes of fractured families and kids finding magic in a flawed universe are present, but by the director's own standards this is a much lighter, almost sugar-coated engagement with those themes. There is the signature naturalistic, engrossing performances from the child actors, with Ohshirô as Ryunosuke especially impressive in his conflicted, caring attempts to be re-united with his brother. Koki is more of a one-note outing, required to be relentlessly upbeat, which he does superbly. The scene where he moves his mother to tears on the phone plays on this astutely. Forcing two young brothers to live apart for their own selfish ends could be represented in darker tones, even as abuse, but Kore-eda keeps it all light and humorous, through the simple trope of having the children be sensible and down-to-earth, and the adults, especially the bickering parents, petty and immature. The sub-plots, involving sponge cake and acting ambitions, are so removed from the main story strand that they give the film an episodic, slightly meandering feel when they pop up. Ultimately they are distracting, making the story busier than it needs to be. They also stretch the running time to over two hours. While some will delight in spending time with such engaging children, the film felt flabby to me after the 90-minute mark. The ending, while admirably avoiding sentimentality, takes too long to come around. Such is Kore-eda's stature that a host of A-listers pack the minor roles giving them more gravitas than normal. Jô Odagiri as the musician father, Kirin Kiki as the grandmother, and Hiroshi Abe as a disciplinarian teacher ply their day-shifts admirably. There is a lot to enjoy in I Wish, but lacking the damning social critique of Nobody Knows, and the acerbic scalpel on family life of Still Walking, this is Kore-eda choosing to crowd please rather than stretch himself.

Hirokazu Koreeda's 'I Wish' sees real-life brothers Koki and Ohshirô Maeda play Koichi and Ryu, two brothers who are geographically split in Japan by their parents who have split up. Twelve year old Koichi stays with his mother Nozomi (Nene Ohtsuka), who has returned home to Kagoshima to live with her parents. Ryu lives with his laid-back father Kenji (Jô Odagiri) in Osaka, who's's pursuing his ambitions as a musician.No mention is made of why Nozomi and Kenji had split up, or why the brothers were split themselves to live with one parent. I can only surmise that the arrangement was temporary, so each parent had equal parental duties. Kagoshima is under the imposing shadow of a live volcano which is threatening to erupt, which fascinates Koichi. Although 'I Wish' has a plethora of characters who are young and old, the focus is on young Koichi and Ryu. Koichi is the more introspective son, Ryu is easygoing and smiles a lot between those gap-teeth of his.Koichi and Ryu regularly call each other to keep in touch, but rarely see each other. News of a new bullet trains imminent arrival spurs Koichi into action, he's heard that anyone who witnesses the exact moment where two bullet trains pass one another will have their wishes granted. Koichi and Ryu hatch a plan to meet up and attempt to witness this passing, hoping to restore their family back together again.'I Wish' is an honestly portrayed and deeply moving film, brimming with energy and intelligence, with not an ounce of sentimentality. There's plenty of subtle comical moments used to charming effect, Ryu's chat with his father about child support in particular is hilarious. Koreeda's astute direction is as light as the traditional sponge cakes that the boys' grandfather makes, and there's a purpose and meaning in the tiniest details and movements. Koreeda manages to knit together so many characters and their individual struggles with warmth and precision, with two stunning performances from Koki and Ohshirô Maeda.Above all, Koreeda realistically shows that life merely carries on as normal and everyone adapts. Neither Nozomi or Kenji are bad parents, they've merely changed to the point where they've realised their incompatibilities cannot be sustained together. Some things happen which cannot be explained, as Kenji said to Ryu, "There's room in this world for wasteful things. Imagine if everything had meaning. You'd choke."

Kouichi (Kouki Maeda) and Ryunosuke (Oushiro Maeda) who's parents are separated and now lives apart in Fukuoka, and Kagoshima hears about a rumor that if you see the meeting of the first bullet trains from Fukuoka and Kagoshima, a miracle will happen. Wishing that the miracle will be the reunion of their parents, they set out to see the meeting of the two trains, while involving their friends, teachers, and adults around them.Child prodigy stand up comic team Maeda-Maeda performs the role of Kouichi, and Ryunosuke. Director Hirokazu Koreeda originally had a different plot for the story, where a girl living in Fukuoka, goes to see the two trains crossing each other on the track, meets a boy from Hakata and love story ensues. But upon seeing Maeda-Maeda at the audition, he changed the story to that which involves the two brothers. The project was a promotional campaign for the opening of the Kagoshima route of Japan Railways bullet train line. They brought the project to director Koreeda, and he accepted.Very common story that involves nothing but the life of few children, but is made extraordinary by the direction of Koreeda, and the performance of Maeda brothers. Observation of people in common life, and attention to detail is extraordinary, and can only come from the eyes of a genius. I can see why Koreeda is regarded so highly as a director. I'd say only few directors can take a theme like this, and create a truly intriguing movie like this one.In reality it is virtually impossible to pinpoint where the two trains will meet on the track, so the story is purely fictional.It may be difficult to see all the inner workings of this movie at a first glance, but it is worth the time to sit in and really enjoy the performance.

If, as many have pointed out, Koreeda is Ozu's cinematic heir, then I Wish is Koreeda's take on Ozu's Good Morning. Both films focus on adorable young kids and Japanese family life, and I have no qualms about saying between the two films, Koreeda easily outdoes Ozu. Not only is Koreeda's depiction of children subtler and more intuitive (no fart jokes here), but he coaxes wonderfully naturalistic performances from his child actors. Is there a director alive who does better work with kids than Koreeda? The movie really takes flight once the kids hit the road on their quest, and I loved the Ozu-ish part where they meet an elderly couple that takes in all the children for a night. Just a wonderful movie with tons of heart. Puts the human in humanistic filmmaking.