Still Walking (2008)

At times I felt quite uncomfortable watching this film. It is set in the home of an elderly couple whose grown up son and daughter - and their own respective families - are coming for a reunion dinner in order to commemorate the drowning of their eldest son some years earlier when he was a youth. Whilst there is the traditional deference you'd expect from children to parents, it soon becomes clear that the mother - especially - is no stickler for protocol, and her questioning of her son and his wife (whose own relationship is at times quite strained) about their own baby plans soon leads us to further exploration of all the aspirations and demons of those gathered around the table. It has been probably twenty years since my family had any sort of cross-generational repast, and there are certainly parts of this that ring true as the personalities of all concerned - even the youngsters - start to impose themselves on the ordinarily structured lives of all gathered together. That brings an authenticity to the scenario. There are no fights, tantrums, or squabbles - but it is clear from our observations that there are soft, vulnerable, points in each of their characters and that all of them are looking to the future in differing (and shorter-term) ways. Kirin Kiki - the mother - probably steals this for me, but the remainder of the ensemble cast deliver a touching, challenging and personal story with surety and delicacy. That's not to say this is in any way soporific, or slow - it isn't; it just allows the story to breathe and for us to appreciate the carefully crafted characterisations as the forty-eight hours, or so, of the visit unfolds. A slow burn - definitely - but well worth watching.