I rather enjoyed "Nobody Knows". It's certainly relentlessly sad, but I compensated by appreciating how well made it is. Much of it is shot very close-up in a crowded apartment, with lots of emphasis on the kids' faces, their boredom, and what they manage to do to keep going. I thought they did rather well for themselves for quite some time, before their situation became too oppressive for them and they descended into squalour.
The little stuffed bunny carried a nice bit of recurring symbolism.
It is difficult to put into words how I felt about their mother.
I had real trouble right from the start when Akira realised how long they were going to have to live on the money that was left. After that point, the movie became really difficult to watch.
As for the mother, I think "inconsiderate" is the best understatement that I can come up with.
Ah, I had no sense of scale for the purchasing power of the Yen until I looked it up after having seen the film, so the amounts didn't mean anything to me while watching. I assumed it couldn't have been very much, though.
Inconsiderate indeed. She struck me as being extraordinarily flakey right from the beginning. Her interactions with the kids were all right, but there was just something about her that made her seem a little too childish. It worked...
I read somewhere that a good chunk of the children's dialogue in the apartment was largely improvised by them, presumably with some guidance by the director. This amazes me.
I watched Nobody Knows as well. However I have difficulty sitting through it because it's about 60 mins too long, and for that reason the emotional impact is lessened.
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The little stuffed bunny carried a nice bit of recurring symbolism.
It is difficult to put into words how I felt about their mother.
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As for the mother, I think "inconsiderate" is the best understatement that I can come up with.
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Inconsiderate indeed. She struck me as being extraordinarily flakey right from the beginning. Her interactions with the kids were all right, but there was just something about her that made her seem a little too childish. It worked...
I read somewhere that a good chunk of the children's dialogue in the apartment was largely improvised by them, presumably with some guidance by the director. This amazes me.
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