83
Hara marries biography to observational and slapstick humor, plus a healthy dose of supernatural rumblings, and in so doing produces something altogether fascinating and endlessly entertaining.
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What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
If some anime films also feature more painterly details in the backdrops, especially when depicting nature, what feels new here is the attention to details such as the glow of light sources, including candles and lanterns, that are warmer and more realistically detailed than usual.
88
Slant Magazine by Elise Nakhnikian
It condenses everyday interactions, memories, and dreams into a potent mix of all the major ingredients of a well-lived life.
90
The New York Times by Glenn Kenny
While it’s not entirely kid-friendly, this portrait of an artist is both enchanting and thought provoking.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Miss Hokusai surprises us with its different emotional tones, ranging from the sinister and supernatural to the unapologetically sexual and the sweetly sentimental.
80
Magical and melancholy, tender and robust: rippling reserves of theme and style compensate for wobbly pacing in Keiichi Hara’s adaptation of Hinako Sugiura’s manga Sarusuberi.
83
One of the ways this film feels fresh and revisionist is that it doesn’t succumb to “great man”-ism, positioning a famous artist’s genius as singular.
60
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It is an interesting work, delicately and discreetly animated, with a quiet visual coup in its final moments.
80
Animation proves the ideal medium for Miss Hokusai’s relatively tame story, allowing audiences to admire the family’s artwork within a world that they were partially responsible for creating.
70
Village Voice by Sherilyn Connelly
Keiichi Hara's episodic anime Miss Hokusai is a lovely biopic, even if it never quite picks up and focuses on a single thread. (Then again, neither does life.)