Our little sister (2015)

Hirokazu Kore-eda is a master of family drama and he shows that in the subdued, yet subtle, film Our little sister. I remember that I felt that the film he made before this contained a few misteps in the direction that submitted to formulaic storytelling. This film may also have touches of that, but it didn't bother me too much. Kore-eda's interest in interpersonal resolution rings true, does not feel contrived. But still, Our little sister wasn't completely satisfactory. The story is about three sisters who adopt their younger stepsister, who come to live with them. The younger sister seems worried in the beginning that they will not adopt her permanently. She also seems shy in their company, showing respect for sisters a few years older than her. This is basically the film - the gradual intimacy between them, and how that intimacy grows out of everyday activities, like preparing food or going for a walk. Kore-eda is good at evoking small nuances of personal relations, the worries and joys that are there without being expressed verbally. An interesting feature of this film, and other films by Kore-eda, is how warm they are - focusing on family not as a place of nightmarish claustrophobia (nor as a conservative utopia). The braveness of Our little sister consists in how dedicated to ordinary life and its sometimes overwhelming, but still small, joys, it really is - to the small changes that develop between people who know each other very well, or who are coming to know one another. I don't know why Our little sister didn't grab me in the same way as some of Kore-edas other films. Maybe I just had the wrong expectations - that I, perhaps unconsciously, hoped for some kinde of climaxtic turns of plot? This is for sure a film I would love to watch again!