70
A delightful and uplifting study of kids and families by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein
Koreeda's compositions have a sympathetic detachment that Americans rarely value but is, for many Japanese, the whole point of art. That means you can contemplate the wonder in these glowing young faces without feeling as if you're on an intravenous drip of corn syrup.
70
This tale of two elementary-school brothers plotting to end the physical separation their parents' divorce has forced on them effortlessly pulls off the naturalism and charm desired from material that might have easily curdled into calculated preciousness.
91
I Wish embraces blissful ignorance, even celebrating its child characters' naivete.
80
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
This wise and funny film, in Japanese with English subtitles, works small miracles in depicting the pivotal moment when kids turn from the wishfulness of childhood into shaping the world for themselves.
60
Shots of the kids and their friends running around unfamiliar environments have the fantastical qualities of Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are," minus the forced whimsy.
63
Slant Magazine by Michael Nordine
I Wish has a tough time balancing the heartfelt with the saccharine and too often feels slight.
91
I Wish is still amply Kore-eda-esque, full of life, heart, and funny little details about daily existence, as it meanders its way toward moments of real profundity.
60
Boxoffice Magazine by Sara Maria Vizcarrondo
A coming of age story in which the children better the world for the adults, Kore-Eda's heart is in the right place.