Movies don't come any more delicate than this carefully etched portrait of loneliness, faithfully adapted from a short story by Haruki Murakami published in the New Yorker in 2002 about an illustrator (Issey Ogata) who emerges from a lifetime of solitude when he marries a young woman (Rie Miyazawa) whose compulsive shopping habit leads to unexpected disaster. But as directed by Jun Ichikawa, the film is less about what happens than subtly mining the emotional landscape. With a lulling, minimalist piano score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, the brief Tony Takitani ultimately arrives at a place of unexpected symmetry and serenity, without compromising the sting of loss at the core of its story. Recommended. (J. Shannon)
Tony Takitani
Strand, 75 min., in Japanese w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99, Jan.10 Volume 21, Issue 1
Tony Takitani
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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