Still Walking – 8

A lovely and endearing portrait of a Japanese family, told with the quiet grace seemingly unique to Japanese filmmakers (although the French A Christmas Tale from last year was similar in many ways). Each character was allowed to develop his or her personality onscreen, and each character had weak points and some strong ones. No one fits someone else perfectly; how we get along is one of the main stories of life. Personally, I was struck at how familiar the routine of Japanese life was to what I enjoyed in 1963.