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Our Little Sister, positions Suzu Hirose as the titular female sibling, just 13 years old, yet already finding herself amongst a mixed bag of family strife, in Japan, to rival all the characters in any long-running soap-opera.
Her father dies, but it’s via the funeral that she gets to meet his other three, older, daughters (Sachi, Yoshino and Chika) who live a train ride away in Kamakura. They haven’t seen him in fifteen years, but they hate the fact that he left their mother in the lurch as he ran off to have an affair, the end result being Suzu Asano.
Given that they don’t trust the girl’s mother to look after her, the three invite Suzu to stay with them, in a large house owned by their grandmother, the idea being that with the four of them (plus granny) under one roof, everything in the garden will be lovely. And it mostly is for the 128-minute running time.
Their dad had faults, like all people do, but there are people in the village who unfairly take their feelings out on Suzu because she’s the daughter from their father’s dalliance. Elsewhere, the three older sisters reconnect with the mother who abandoned them and elements in the plot come full circle in an unexpected way. In addition, the recession has hit Japan, so as Sachi works for a bank and gets a promotion meaning she can visit clients who are defaulting on their debts, and that their childhood cafe is also having fiduciary problems, it doesn’t take you long to see where the plot is going with this. However, in reality, a bank would have a lot of people working for them and she would not be allowed to dish out the bad news to the boss, given that they’ve known each other since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. The cafe also sells beer, so perhaps if they sold something stronger they might not have gone under, but anyway.
Based on the Japanese manga, Umimachi Diary (aka Seaside Town Diary), by Akimi Yoshida and published in Monthly Flowers magazine, this film has gorgeous locations that makes you want to visit, including a scene where Suzu is sat on the back of the bike belonging to her potential suitor, as they ride under every blossom tree in the land. I hadn’t seen anything from this director before, but if they all have stunning visuals like this film does, then I must rectify that. I also enjoyed the glorious sweeping score that’s very reminiscent of Rachmaninov, and there’s an amusing line where the three sisters comment on the new girl being ‘mature for her age’. Is that because it’s a 17-year-old actress playing a 13-year-old? 😉
Overall, this is a film to enjoy its appearance, since the story is rather slight, mostly dealing with the inconsequential aspects of life such as Yoshino and Chika having boyfriend problems – they all argue but it just amuses Suzu, for example. The boyfriends are portrayed as being a bit simple and lacking in anything it takes to be a man. No male characters in this film are portrayed in a positive light, although they’re probably trying to compensate for most of Quentin Tarantino’s output.
And despite the brief amount of content in this film, in Peter Jackson’s hands, he’d probably turn it into a nine-hour, three-part trilogy!, but if you have any interest in Japan at all, then perhaps you should consider the cinema of the Orient…
I haven’t seen any other of Hirokazu Koreeda‘s movies, to date, but based on this, I should fill in those knowledge gaps imminently.
The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition and is as pin-sharp as you’d expect, bringing the stunning scenery of Kamakura and other locations to life brilliantly. As I mentioned earlier, I’d love to go and visit them.Also, I’m watching this on a 50″ Panasonic Plasma TV, the film playing from a PS4.
The audio is in DTS HD 5.1. Naturally, this does not seem like a special effects movie (and it isn’t), but the aforementioned score is a joy to listen to throughout.
When it comes to extras, unfortunately, the only offering is a trailer (1:59). The menu mixes clips from the film with a piece of the theme, there are subtitles in English and, unsurprisingly, just a mere 12 chapters, despite the 2hr+ running time.
Also, check out my panDOMonium vlog for this film below.
Our Little Sister is released on Monday on Blu-ray and DVD, and click on the packshot for the full-size version.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
7 10 8 1 |
| OVERALL | 6.5 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 128 minutes
Year: 2015
Cat.no: ART187BD
Released: June 13th 2016
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.85:1 (Super 35)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Producers: Takashi Ishihara, Kaoru Matsuzaki and Hijiri Taguchi
Screenplay: Hirokazu Koreeda (based on the manga by Akimi Yoshida)
Music: Yôko Kanno
Cast:
Sachi Kôda: Haruka Ayase
Yoshino Kôda: Masami Nagasawa
Chika Kôda: Kaho
Suzu Asano: Suzu Hirose
Yoshimi Sakashita: Ryô Kase
Dr. Yasuyuki Inoue: Ryôhei Suzuki
Sanzo Hamada: Takafumi Ikeda
Tomoaki Fujii: Kentarô Sakaguchi
Fûta Ozaki: Ohshirô Maeda
Hideko Takano: Midoriko Kimura
Yôko Asano: Yûko Nakamura
Sachiko Ninomiya: Jun Fubuki
Toshio Iida: Kazuaki Shimizu
Kaoru Hirata Kaoru Hirata
Dr. Kazuya Shiina: Shin’ichi Tsutsumi
Nurse: Masumi Nomura
Miyako Sasaki: Shinobu Ohtake
Masashi Ogata: Fight Seki
Miho Kaneko: Saya Mikami
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.