Still the Water
| Still the Water | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Naomi Kawase |
| Written by | Naomi Kawase |
| Produced by | Rémi Burah Takehiko Aoki Masamichi Sawada Naomi Kawase |
| Starring | Nijirō Murakami Jun Yoshinaga |
| Edited by | Tina Baz |
| Music by | Hasiken |
| Distributed by | Asmik Ace |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Still the Water (2つ目の窓, Futatsume no Mado) is a 2014 Japanese romance film written and directed by Naomi Kawase. It was filmed in the scenic nature of Amami City in Kagoshima Prefecture in 2013.[1] The score was composed by singer-songwriter Hasiken.[2]
Still the Water was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[3] Describing the film as her "masterpiece", Kawase said it was deserving of the Palme d'Or. "This is the first time that I have said this about a film," the writer-director said, "After the Camera d'Or and the Grand Prix, there is nothing I want more than the Palme d'Or. I have my eyes on nothing else."[4]
Cast
[edit]
- Nijirō Murakami
- Jun Yoshinaga
- Tetta Sugimoto
- Miyuki Matsuda
- Makiko Watanabe
- Jun Murakami
- Hideo Sakaki
- Fujio Tokita
- Faith eledia
Reception
[edit]Still the Water has an approval rating of 52% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 23 reviews, and an average rating of 5.7/10.[5] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] Reviewing it at Cannes, Nikola Grozdanovic at Indiewire gave it a B+, stating that "'Still The Water' is a spectacle for the senses, which, if there is any justice, will be remembered as one of the greater films of the competition."[7] In The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave it 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "Kawase's film is sometimes beautiful and moving but I couldn't help occasionally finding it a little contrived and self-conscious."[8] In Film Business Asia, Derek Elley gave the film a rating of 2 out of 10, calling it "more empty, pretentious ramblings from self-styled auteur Kawase Naomi".[9]
References
[edit]- ^ "Lecture on cinematography in Amami by director Kawase" (in Japanese). Amami Online. 20 May 2014. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014.
- ^ "News, HASIKEN official" (in Japanese). Hasiken. 20 May 2014.
- ^ "2014 Official Selection". Cannes. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "Naomi Kawase: 'masterpiece' worth the Palme D'Or". Agence France-Presse. 10 May 2014.
- ^ "Still the Water | Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Still the Water". Metacritic.
- ^ Grozdanovic, Nikola (20 May 2014). "Cannes Review: Naomi Kawase's 'Still The Water' Is A Spectacle For The Senses". Indiewire. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (20 May 2014). "Cannes 2014 review: Still the Water – come on in, the daughter's lovely". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
- ^ Derek Elley (21 May 2014). "Still the Water". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
External links
[edit]- Official website (in Japanese)
- Still the Water at IMDb