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France, Japan, Spain · 2014
2h 1m
Director Naomi Kawase
Starring Nijiro Murakami, Junko Abe, Miyuki Matsuda, Tetta Sugimoto
Genre Drama, Romance
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Set on a remote Japanese island, the film centers on a boy who finds a dead body floating in the sea. The young man then asks his girlfriend to join him in solving the mystery. The pair will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death, and love.
The Hollywood Reporter by Clarence Tsui
While the director prides herself for having a mix of pro and amateur actors improvising scenes, many awkward moments emerge as the characters seemingly are just instructed to let their conversations and interactions flow: the result is missed beats, protracted silences and characters staring at each other or into space for too long.
While beautiful, early scenes of shocking violence give way to philosophising and gauche symbolism.
A fluid, dreamlike tone poem of mothers and fathers, death and continuance.
Kawase embraces nature worship and pompous philosophizing in her indulgently mannerist style, which, over the course of two hours, overwhelms a small yet potentially moving story of two teenagers dealing with separation within their families.
The Playlist by Nikola Grozdanovic
Still The Water is at its enchanting best when depicting the mysteries of death and the conflicts of trying to come to terms with it.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Kawase's film is sometimes beautiful and moving but I couldn't help occasionally finding it a little contrived and self-conscious.
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