It is a performances centric movie

Brilliant and touching

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Put aside a part of your clichés about Japan, the director Hirokazu Kore-eda immerses the viewer in the intimacy of three sisters whose personalities are way different. Their kindness leads them to welcome their half-sister whose existence was ignored by them. The photography, bright and refined, provides the movie with a goodwill whose secret is only kept by Japanese productions. Way more than a simple "feel good movie", "Our little sister" never falls into the pathos despite situations that would easily lend to it. Not dramatic nor a comedy, it's the movie's neutrality that is striking : scenes follow one after another without having a single impact on each other and yet, the camera's eye leads us to become infatuated with those four sisters that are learning to be happy together, each of them bounded by her own intrigue in the background. If the message can seem a little bit too bright, sometimes flirting with the gullible, we have no problem embracing this naivety, like during this beautiful biking scene where the blooming sakuras pass before our eyes. Full review on our blog Los Indiscretos : https://losindiscretos.org/english/our-little-sister-2015-hirokazu- koreeda/

Three mostly-grown-up sisters, parentless through divorce and abandonment, grudgingly attend their father's funeral in a village in 'the middle of nowhere' and there meet 13-year-old Suzu, a half- sister they'd never heard of. The widow was the third wife and so wants nothing to do with Suzu, who was born of the second, but the three sisters quickly take to her and impulsively ask her to come live with them and share their larger more urban world and lives: they are, in short, building their own family on parental ruins. The attempt is rife with ups and downs and ins and outs, with concessions and sisterly squabbles and love and generosity and sorrow and sacrifice. Some may find it a bit too sweet; some may find it too long. Others may be grateful for a little sweetness in these days of ugliness and more than willing to 'settle in' to its relaxed pace and many charms. It may be a slight piece of work (you can't ask for a lot of depth in a movie that is based on graphic novel) but it's warm without being sticky, and very nicely done.

With all the brutality in the world - and in many movie theaters as well - Hirokazu Koreeda's films bring relief and pleasure. The Japanese director focuses on families and children, but his work is free of cutesiness, overt sentimentality, never taking the easy way to the victory of good over evil or cheap happy ending. His latest is "Our Little Sister" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3756788/) getting its US release on July 8, 2016, and to be seen in the San Francisco Bay Area beginning July 15. It is a heartwarming, but eminently realistic story of three young-adult sisters living together in a seaside town south of Tokyo. The "little sister" of the title is a 13-year-old half sister they adopt meeting her for the first time at the funeral of their long-estranged father.Kore-eda reveals family memories, secrets, connections, conflicts - maintaining constant interest in the story, but keeping clear of soap-opera characteristics, and gradually increasing sympathy for the film's characters, certainly for the four young women, but also the rest of the large cast, even the easy-to-dislike absent (and quirky) mother, appearing near the end of the film and becoming a key player in a central conflict. "Our Little Sister" is just as gripping and memorable as Kore-eda's best: "Nobody Knows," "Still Walking," "Like Father, Like Son," and "I Wish" - all humanistic, character-oriented films that integrate entertainment, wisdom, and a positive philosophy... all low-key and subtle. Kore-eda is the Chekhov of cinema - without Russian sadness and pessimism. "Our Little Sistem" is based on Akimi Yoshida's "Umimachi Diary." Both the manga and the film emphasize the physical and social environment, even while focusing on the four women and their relationships within and without the family. Sachi (Ayase Haruka), Yoshino (Masami Nagasawa) and Chika (Kaho) are the three sisters, three established, skillful actresses, the two older ones elegant and attractive; Kaho is quirky, but just as good- natured as the others. Hiroshi is a relative newcomer, giving an eminently believable performance as the orphan teenager, even though the actress was about 22 when the film was made. Whimsical, moving acts of goodness are set in an environment of reality, including conflict, illness, even death, and in the end, there is a typical Kore-eda mild catharsis, nothing forced or dictated, just allowing the audience to share in "pretty good lives."

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.