Still Walking (2008)

Hirokazu Koreeda has become one of my favorite directors. His movies are moving family dramas. And this one is simply beautiful. He is the heir apparent to an earlier Japanese master, Yasujiro Ozu. His movies are somehow calming and emotional at the same time. The pacing is so deliberate, the camera so still. His dialogue is so delicate. The plot details slowly reveal themselves in carefully crafted dialogue as the characters muse about life. This movie is 24 hours in the lives of the Yokoyama family. They get together every year to commemorate the death of the eldest son, Junpei. Death is a major theme in the movie, but rather than simply highlighting death, Koreeda manages to bring out the pain of life. That's life as it really is. Grief takes many forms. It's a brilliantly heartwarming movie. It's a little difficult to explain what I love so much about Koreeda, but I can't wait to watch the next one.

After the Storm (Umi yori mo Mada Fukaku) (2016)

This was one of my favorite films in the festival but I am having a little difficulty explaining why. Perhaps it is the humility of the characters, the realistic and relatable qualities of a flawed individual. Kiki Kilin is hilarious. I think she is like Japan's Betty White, still going and cracking jokes. Even if that's a bad analogy, she is certainly a big star. This is a family drama that is funny about a divorced father trying to reconnect with his son and ex-wife. It is simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming and side-splitting without ever being saccharine--a delicate balance. It is simply a well executed relatively simple film. It's faultless. It doesn't need to be flashy, just good acting and good writing.