Absolutely brilliant

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

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Katsuhito Ishii said in an interview that he put everything in this movie that he himself would want or always wanted to see in a movie. And it turns out that it's probably that which many of us miss. Everybody asks himself the questions "What would have been, if.." or "Why did this happen..." after a plot twist or after something grave happens to the protagonist(s). In cha no aji no severe incident hits the family depicted, rather it is a portrait of different lifestyles, we follow the family members in their everyday life and see the smaller and bigger stuff that troubles them. There is no need for a thunder in this movie, rather it's a beautiful story where you can just sit back and relax and never have to fear for the sanity and well-being of the characters. This movie is the thoughts everyone of us has, when reading a book or watching movie and something terrible happens. Because in this movie we can see how the characters live when everything goes on normally. Yet the movie doesn't get boring at any time. The dialogs are crafted well and so is the imagery. Sometimes the movie touches you right at your heart, because everyone of us knows how it is to have family. So everyone shares something with the characters. This movie is just the beautiful fairytale that happens all over the world and everyday...

Warning: it may contain a very minor spoiler.In some ways, "The Taste of Tea" is the perfect movie for our times. Emptiness disguised as true meaning. Gimmicks instead of true art. Lack of mastery of cinematographic language, among many other peccadillos, make this movie, in my eyes, nearly unbearable to see.To begin with, why spend so much money to express so little? Why not give that money away to needy populations in Africa, Pakistan? My belief is that art is dead and buried in our times. This movie is living proof of that. How I miss the true artists of the form, such as Fellini, Antonioni, Pasolini, Chaplin, Godard, Agnès Varda (for her "Le Bonheur"), Reiner Werner Fassbinder (When is Berlin Alexanderplatz going to be out on DVD?), Bergman!! The few exceptions you find from times to times are there only to reinforce the rule...Just to give a small example of how clumsy the director is: there is a lyrical scene, the only worth something in the whole film, when the family discovers some books drawn by the patriarch. A good director wouldn't show the content of the first books, but instead construct an emotional crescendo only with the actors' faces and small details, and finally reveal the content of the last book, where the audience would be startled by the revelation, while, at the same time, would be left wondering about the previous ones.But the director shows all the books in detail. Some of them two times... For God's sake! Even sensitivity has to be spelled-out these days! Much like American movies when they turn up the music when they want an emotional effect! Using the same technique, I'll explain further: the director shows us a scene with an emotional impact, a book, with a trick. Got moved by it? Got it? No? Here he goes again, showing a second book... Not yet? Here's a third... And a fourth!! Frankly!!OK, maybe it's just me... Many people raved about this film, right here... I may be wrong. But if I could offer the director a little piece of advice, I would say: you have potential, man. Now go see Berlin Alexanderplatz and learn.

Note: I am your classic American teenager, I love violent movies. So naturally I was one to show reluctance when a friend suggested that we go see this movie at the NYC underground Asian film festival. Needless to say from my summary I was not disappointed.The first thing to say is I can not think of any other movie that is anything like this movie and although I did insult myself before I have quite good taste in movie and by violence I was more or less leaning towards Pulp Fiction and Clockwork Orange. A taste of tea is simply about a family. Each character in the family has a little conflict, and as any movie the conflict attempts to be resolved as the movie goes on. They aren't eccentric conflicts at first glance, but as the movie continues the complexity grows. Their stories are not very intertwined except for the fact that it is all the same family. Nevertheless there are moments that want to bring you to tears.Despite all this I would not call the movie sappy to the least bit. The movie is full of crazy imagery and at the same time is quite comical. To say the least its light hearted. But during countless scenes the audience would burst out in laughter.To finish up, this movie is an absolute must see. Find it, buy it, rent it, watch it. In an age where it is almost impossible to find a good movie I am surprised that this movie did not surface long ago.

You know, family films just aren't what they used to be, and what a wonderful notion that is. The only Ishii film that I've seen prior to The Taste of Tea is Shark Skin Man and Hip Peach Girl, and the maturity level of the director was almost unrecognizable.At first everything in this film feels strangely secluded from the everyday world; the school, the house and the family members who seem extremely timid. The rarely displayed state of normality in family films, as supposed to the somewhat redundant tales of kindred conflicts that Ishii was able to capture, transcended in a refreshing and mesmerizing manner. The behavior of each family member was played out so naturally by the actors that I felt like I was watching a documentary. When the so called "unusual traits" of the family members resurfaces, the transformation is executed smoothly, without wandering off into another genre or changing the intended mood of the film.I rarely get behind ensemble casts but I hope Ishii will maintain the relationship with these actors for his future projects. Asano as always breathes the ethereally inner distance, yet still feels humanely connected to the world and people in it. No matter how often the word 'subtle' is used to describe films, in reality I think it is a rare achievement. Ishii did a great job of taking his time to let us observe each family member as they go through their daily routines and as they attentively take time to watch over each other.After seeing her in Kamikaze Girls, I was hoping to see and especially hear more from Anna Tsuchiya, who I think has a great future ahead of her.I think every bit of detail obtained from the comments and even the poster should give you an idea about what type of film this is. It's comforting to know that in this day and age certain directors don't feel the financial and mainstream strain, and willingly dedicate their time and passion to making such wonderful films.