On a film scale, like 9 out of 10, for sure. 

Lovely experience, I could have watched 4 or 5 hours of this. Routines and sincere emotions can be so riveting because it’s relatable and you’re getting a true picture of the character. Even in the more emotive scenes, you don’t get the full backstory or an elaborate buildup, it’s just the moment as it happens, allowing you to make of it what you will before life continues, much the same as it was before. The more films I watch, the more I think simplicity is king, for my preference anyway. 

I love how he always looks up as he exits his house. I remember my cousin telling me ages ago his new years resolution was to look up more because we miss so much by looking down and ahead the whole time and this was a great reminder of this.

Takashi was absolutely hilarious - my entire screening was laughing every time he was on screen. Tokio Emotos performance was great, as they all were, but especially Koji Yakusho’s as Hirayama of course. From the opening scene, his organisation and assurance in which he navigates his life gives us complete trust in him and means we take note of his attitude and way of life and see this as wise and genuinely educational. 

The whole film is great to look at too. As if I didn’t already want to visit Tokyo enough. Even the toilets are impressive. I sometimes see stills of films after I’ve seen them and think I didn’t appreciate the beauty of that shot in the moment but on this viewing I made effort to do that and you have time to as well. This is one of my favourite things about films that are not too focused on plot or too fast paced. Slow it down, let me feel, let me think and appreciate - this film is great for it. 

Final thing is the dream sequences - my favourite depiction of dreams I can think of (Inception doesn’t count). Not that they were a perfect visual showing of what dreams actually are (this is almost impossible I think) but they capture the feeling of them so well. The transitions in and out of them and the shots within them were great and varied too - it wasn’t just a case of watching the same thing each time. These sequences, the bokeh, the upward shots of trees - not only are they visually stunning but in being so they further reinforce the message of the film. Very glad I made the effort to go and see this.