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Café Lumière(珈琲時光)

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Japan, Taiwan · 2004
1h 43m
Director Hou Hsiao-hsien
Starring Yo Hitoto, Tadanobu Asano, Masato Hagiwara, Kimiko Yo
Genre Drama

Making her way through life by forming superficial relationships, Yoko (Japanese pop idol Yo Hitoto) keeps everyone at arm's length, whether it's her father (Nanji Kobayashi) and stepmother (Kimiko Yo) or Hajime (Tadanobu Asano), the owner of a small bookstore who could be the father of her unborn child. Yoko seems most at home when she's riding the train, speeding around the city with only her thoughts to entertain her.

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What are people saying?

What are critics saying?

60

Variety by

Hou fans will find what they're looking for; others will wonder when the action starts.

70

The New York Times by Dana Stevens

Café Lumière stands in relation to "Tokyo Story" as a faint, diminished echo. It is nonetheless a fascinating curiosity, a chance to witness one major filmmaker paying tribute to another in the form of a rigorously minor film.

100

Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum

Hou's best film since "The Puppetmaster" (1993). It's also his most minimalist effort to date, slow to reveal its depths and beauties, and it marks a rejuvenation of his art.

70

TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox

The film is an original work by a filmmaker who throughout his career has absorbed the best of what Ozu had to teach, and as such it stands as beautiful tribute from one master to another.

67

The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias

Concerns feelings that can't be expressed, relationships that can't flower, and connections that are impossible to bridge.

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