Mar
30
2007
The Taste Of Tea
Posted by luna6 2 Comments
Movie : The Taste Of Tea / Cha no aji /このページを和訳
Release Date : July 17, 2004
Country : Japan
Director : Katsuhito Ishii
Starring : Satomi Tezuka, Takahiro Sato, Maya Banno, Tadanobu Asano, Anna Tsuchiya, Tomokazu Miura
Run Time : 143 Minutes
Editor Rating : 8.0
Users Rating: 8.82 
(28 votes)
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Plot Synopsis : The mother, Yoshiko, is an animation artist that tries to resurrect her career while maintaining the daily tasks of her family in a rural setting outside of Tokyo. The father, Nobou, works as a clinical hypnotist. Nabou’s brother Ayano drifts into the family’s life, as he has been drifting through life since the love of his life married someone else. The teenage son, Hajime, struggles with making friends at his high school, while trying to attract the attention of the girl of his dreams. The youngest daughter, Sachiko, is constantly followed by her alter ego that lurks up in the horizon wherever she goes. The grandfather, Akira, helps Yoshio with her animation by posing in various fighting postures, while secretly preparing for his death. The tale of these family members slowly weave together to make the story of the Taste Of Tea.
Movie Review : Since Viz Media is bringing The Taste Of Tea to the bigscreen in the U.S., I thought it would be an appropriate time to revisit this simply amazing film. I have had the good fortune to see this film 3 or 4 times already and now with the pleasure of seeing it again on DVD I must say that The Taste of Tea is a resounding masterpiece of cinema.
A train protrudes from Hajime’s forehead and takes off into the sky, pink colored trees sheds their leaves like a spring snowstorm, and the giant face of little Sachiko appears floating in the sky and this all occurs in the first 10 minutes of the film! Definitely you can tell the Taste Of Tea will not be your typical movie.
As the movie progresses and you become more familiar with the unusual way the story unfolds and you experience the quirkiness of each of the family members, it’s nearly impossible not to simply sit back and marvel at what unfolds before your eyes. Similar to the sensations of savoring the flavor of tea on a calm Sunday morning. The film just has an awesome mixture of some of the funniest scenes you will ever see, quietly meditative reflections on daily life, beautiful cinematography set in a tranquil rural area of Japan, and these quirky characters that seem initially like they may have come from another world. Yet, but by the end of the film you can’t help to identify their quirky traits with people in you know in everyday life. The plot really takes a backseat to the characters or let’s just say the characters make the plot.
The Taste of Tea is Katsuhito Ishii third film, following “Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl” and “Party 7.” While “Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl” was fun in a Tarentino film noire kind of way and “Party 7″ featured some absolutely unique characters, “The Taste Of Tea” is where Katsuhito Ishii puts it all together and is able to find his own unique voice as a director to be reckoned with. If you’re curious to know what Katsuhito Ishii would do next, then read the review for Funky Forest : The First Contact.
My sole complaint with The Taste of Tea would have been with the film’s 143 minute runtime. If the film was edited to 2 hours or under I think impact of the movie would have been even more resounding. Yet, the long runtime wasn’t a huge issues simply because of the visuals, acting, and storytelling, which were so compelling. The way the stories of the different family members weaved in and out with each other added to the zen like feeling of watching The Taste Of Tea.
If you have the opportunity to watch the Taste Of Tea you should absolutely take advantage of the opportunity to do so. Just try not to fall in love with the Haruno Family, I would bet that you simply can’t.
buy The Taste Of Tea from YesAsia
Cast:
Satomi Tezuka – Yoshiko Haruno (mother)
Tomokazu Miura – Nobuo Haruno (father)
Tatsuya Gashuin – Akira Todoroki (grandpa)
Maya Banno – Sachiko Haruno (daughter)
Takahiro Sato – Hajime Haruno (son)
Tadanobu Asano – Ayano Haruno (uncle)
Tomoko Nakajima – Akira Terako
Ikki Todoroki – Himself
Anna Tsuchiya – Aoi SuzuishiSaki Aibu – Hotaru
Hideaki Anno – Kasugabe
Keisuke Horibe – Man in Noodle Shop
Ryo Kase – Rokutaro Hamadayama
Rinko Kikuchi
Kirin Kin – Grandma
Tsuyoshi Kusanagi – Projectionist
Ken’ichi Matsuyama – Young Man in Red T-Shirt
Shunichiro Miki
Kenji Mizuhashi – Maki Hoshino
Yoshiyuki Morishita
Kaiji Moriyama – Dancer
Yuka Nomura – Woman in Noodle Shop
Yoshinori Okada – Omiya
Machiko Ono
Daigaku Sekine – Detective
Kotaro Shiga
Issei Takahashi – Chairman of Go Club
Shinji Takeda – CM Director
Seiji Tanaka
Yoji Tanaka
Susumu Terajima – Tattooed Man
Emi Wakui – Narrator (voice)
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2005 Movie Reviews, Japanese Movies, Movie Reviews |
Comments
2 Comments so far
I love this one. I could not stop laughing while watching it, and actually had to stop at one point to catch my breath. Its Yama Yo son remains in my brain for a long time. This is a gem indeed.
i love this movie sooo much
the son and grandpa had me cracking up