I Wish [DVD]

It is a tale of a group of kids with an idea. So they go off on a long journey to their objective which is finally reached. It's also about the bonding the kids do before and during the journey.One moment in the movie is one of the girls in the group with the dog Marble. Her innocence to the situation involving her little dog made it feel sad. Thing is the first time we see the dog. It won't move so she has to carry it after asking it what was wrong. The one and only hint to there being a problem of some kind. She takes the dog on the journey with them. This is the sad part to me.I love my world cinema. Japan sure does know how to make some good movies. I don't care if it's comedy drama horror or something in between. The Japanese are world class movie makers. I always get immersed. Movies like this are escapism. Pure and simple. I Wish has no big bangs or gun fights with dead bodies flying through the air like rag-dolls on fire.I Wish is a fairly uplifting affair. A story about kids being kids and how they see the world around them. Some with innocent eyes and others not so much. All of them coming together in a common cause. Well done Mr Kore-Eda. A fine movie indeed. His surname on the cover says Kore-Eda but on Google it's Koreeda. Oh well. I spelled it by how it is on the cover. Hope it doesn't matter either way. This is the first movie of his I've seen. I'm going to try Like Father, Like Son next. It sounds like another fine piece of entertainment.Japanese movies have an atmosphere to them like no one else. Kind of like the late 70s and all through the 80s Italian horror movies. A charm all of their own as well.

Charming gentle intelligent film. Enjoyed by me (43) and my daughter (14) and my friend (68)

What a warm and pleasant film this is! I watch a lot of Japanese films, and this is one of my favourites now, because it's so peaceful!Apparently, it was originally a story about a young boy and his little sister, but when the director, Kore'eda, saw the brotherhood between the two young boys (the elder was going to play the main character in this film and his younger brother in his real life), the director changed his mind, and now the story was rewritten about two brothers and their distant brotherhood who try to get the separated family back together, and in this case the two bothers are played by the real brothers.It's a story you've probably never seen anything similar to before, and it'll be a good family film (if your kids don't mind reading subtitles). I remember watching 'Kikujiro' by Takeshi Kitano (1999), but in a way it's both similar and not similar to this film, it's not the same kind of film, as adults are just outside 'beings' for the kids in this film.I recommend it highly, if you like Japanese or any foreign films, and is nothing like karate, guns, wars, blood, anything like that. It's purely a family, at home, ordinary side of the working class Japanese life. Hope you'll enjoy it too.

Koreeda's movie is a thoughtful, gently touching, funny and unexpectedly profound study of two small boys whose mum and dad have split up, each taking one of the boys with them. The mother lives in a tiny flat with her parents; the dad, likewise in a tiny flat, but whose companions are his fellow rock band members. The cast of actors is great: the grown-ups are professionals, the children are simply children whom the director chose to play the parts, and very good they all are. Indeed, the kids weren't shown the complete script for the film but were simply briefed on the plot on a day-by-day basis, and then rehearsed using improvised dialogue.The camerawork is exceptionally imaginative, varied and entirely at the service of the dramatic and emotional needs of the film. All the while the volcano, Sakurajima, across the bay from the city of Kagoshima, rumbles away like some wordless Greek chorus commenting on the action of the drama and underlining the unease felt by the older of the two boys who worries that his mum and dad will never get back together. Highly recommended.

Yes, I apprecate all the the sound and sensible reviews written about this film. But I have to say I lost interest after half an hour, started falling asleep at 45 minutes, and eventually gave up.... Sorry.

I expected this film to be like an emotional bullet train, given the subject matter, but it is actually very subtle and very gentle, which is entirely appropriate. There are not the histrionics that you might expect from an American rendering of the same story. What you get is a gentle representation of the warmth, love, and differences that exist between two young brothers who have been recently separated by divorce, and who have to learn to move forward with change. Koki Maeda and his younger brother Oshiro were perfectly cast as the protagonist brothers Koichi (serious yet still capable of dreaming and having fun)and Ryonosuke (Slightly nuts, and inexhaustibly energetic, yet responsible beyond his years).The film handles a common situation with panache, and with a clear indication that this is a Japanese film depicting a uniquely Japanese approach to solving it. Wonderful! (I would love to know if the two boys are just playing themselves!)

It probably is a great film but due to the completely random subtitles I will never know. There are periods of up to a minute where the dialogue continues and there are no subtitles, and when they come they are along the lines of "It means"... and nothing more for 30 seconds. After an initial period of finding this amusing, it becomes annoying as you realise you haven't the slightest idea what they are on about.Perhaps the subtitles only reflect the parts we need to know but I would like to make my own mind up.

Film coinvolgente con la sua capacità di commuovere

On Saturday evenings, our PBS station, Channel Thirteen, runs what they call a Classic film, an indie, and a short selected by the viewers. I've seen a few independent films that really stayed in my mind, and I came across all of them by accident - just by being hooked in the first few minutes.I have some friends who plan to take their kids to Japan in the spring, so I sent them my DVD of I Wish to enjoy before their trip. Of course, I had to watch it again before sending it, so I just ordered another copy for myself from Amazon.I Wish is about two brothers (played by two real brothers) in Japan, one living in the north, the other in the south.One boy is living with their mother and grandparents, the other with their father - temporary, or an actual divorce isn't specified. Grandpa and his friends are a hoot!These boys and their friends come together in an adventure of a lifetime, representing all the dreams and hopes of childhood, love, kindness, joy... The adults and the kids are so natural that you feel it's a documentary, not a movie. I just loved it, and hope you will too!

Des rêves de gosses, pareils partout : "Je veux devenir une star de cinéma..." "Je voudrais conduire une Ferrari..." "Je voudrais être un grand peintre...." "Je veux épouser mon institutrice....." "Je voudrais que mon chien mort ressuscite....." "Je voudrais être un champion de base-ball...." .... Le rêve de Koichi est tout autre : séparé de sa mère et de son petit frère par le divorce de ses parents, il voudrait voir la famille à nouveau réunie.......Les deux frères se téléphonent régulièrement pour se raconter leurs vies si différentes, mais ils ne se sont pas vus depuis six mois. Koichi vit avec sa mère, accablée par son emploi de serveuse et qui boit pour oublier les choix désastreux de ses vingt ans, et avec un grand-père fantaisiste qui veut monter avec ses vieux copains une affaire de pâtisseries oubliées. Le petit frère demeure loin, avec un père marginal et irresponsable, qui ne rêve que de guitare et de rock et vit de l'aide sociale. Une réalité que les enfants n'ont pas choisie, imposée par les adultes dont ils dépendent.Comment réaliser ses rêves? En faisant un voeu, paraît-il, devant le croisement miraculeux de deux TGV. Il faut y aller, et donc trouver l'argent du voyage avec l'aide de ses meilleurs copains. Après une escapade improbable, la bande de gosses hurlera ses voeux au passage des deux trains...... Mais Koichi réalisera que son frère et lui ont grandi, et changé, que les voeux ne se réalisent pas toujours... mais que la vie continue quand même, et qu'il faut faire avec......Si vous cherchez de l'action, ce film n'est pas pour vous. D'une précision documentaire sur la vie des écoliers japonais, il est interprété par des enfants parfaitement dirigés. Plein d'un humour délicat et de sensibilité, c'est un film à la fois mélancolique, et rempli d'espoir : la vie devant soi.........Langue japonaise et sous-titres français.

... mit Ruhe und Blick für Details gedreht. Alles eher aus den Augen der Kinder. Man sollte sich daher auch ein wenig zurückversetzen in die eigene Zeit als Kind. Herrlich unaufgeregt. Einfach zum Genießen. Die zwei kleinen Hauptdarsteller sind niedlich und spielen richtig gut. Aufgefallen ist mir auch die Darstellerin der Freundin Megumi, die unbedingt Schauspielerin werden möchte. Selten, daß jemand so gut komisch und ernst gleichzeitig spielen kann. Die Musik ist ebenfalls klasse und passt sehr gut zum Film. Ich hatte rein gar nichts auszusetzen.

A delightful movie. The children were inventive, industrious, co-operative with one another and without any nastiness. I had watched this previously and wanted it on my DVD shelf. Some sad and joyful moments. I will watch again.