MovieChat Forums > Aruitemo aruitemo (2008) Discussion > At least 45 minutes too long

At least 45 minutes too long

posted 13 years ago by CincyDude
17 replies | jump to latest

This film had some fine moments but really, what was the point of scenes like talking about how to cook radishes or whether the little kid should or should not have had sushi for lunch (or something like that). There were way too many scenes which, at least to me, didn't add a thing and needlessly prolonged the movie. Or was one of the points of the movie to show that Japaneese lives can be as dull and vapid as anyone else's.

The guy next to me was snoring all through the middle of this snoozer.

4 of 10

[–] drivenbyseclusion 13 years ago

That's the point of the film. All of it is there to just get a glimpse of their two days together. Simplicity is the key here, and we're treated to the lives of these people. You get the feeling that everything is extremely genuine and raw, though some might call that mundane and boring.

Life is filled with the everyday mundane, sadly.

[–] netin2005 13 years ago

Agreed.
4/10 is the same score I gave to this movie.

[–] jussi_m 13 years ago

Well, obviously you can't like / understand good films if you like Resident Evil: Retribution and Mortal Kombat

"It's All in the Game."
My Vote History: imdb.com/user/ur10932798/ratings

[–] netin2005 13 years ago

lol yeah, I'm more into those mainstream movies.

Still, if "Walking" was as good as you claim it to be, it should appeal to everyone including blockbuster movie watchers like me.

I've given "Tokyo Sonata" a 7/10 score: it's japanese, it's cult but it's way more interesting than seeing 'Walking'.

[–] dagrattle 13 years ago

But *no* movie appeals to everyone... even those blockbusters.
Plus I'm sure this one *does* appeal to some blockbuster movie watchers.

There's no problem with you not liking it, but I don't think you can generalize.

One other thing: Tokyo Sonata may seem "cult" here, but it was fairly mainstream in Japan (although Kurosawa's first mainstream film). Then again, Yaji and Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims was "mainstream," too, but that's a whooooooole 'nuther discussion...

[–] ShellOilJunior 7 years ago

The film does appeal to everyone. You're just not ready for it.

[–] fatpie42 10 years ago

4/10 is overly generous. I don't need a movie in order to spend time with boring people. If I wanted that I could get it just as easily in real life. A film needs to have a point.

[–] agera 13 years ago

Not for me.

I thought the movie ended much too soon. I kept hoping right up to the end that we'd get to spend more time with this family.

"The night was sultry."

[–] loploppresents 13 years ago

Not for me.

I thought the movie ended much too soon. I kept hoping right up to the end that we'd get to spend more time with this family.

Yes. It was all those little moments that made the experience feel so real. It really made me feel the same things I felt when I was a child and went on visits to relatives I only saw once a year.

And to the OP, a lot of those moments that seem inconsequential are actually saying a lot. A careful viewer will pick up on that.

[–] agera 13 years ago

It was all those little moments that made the experience feel so real. It really made me feel the same things I felt when I was a child and went on visits to relatives I only saw once a year.

The family in the movie was nothing like my extended family but the movie still felt true to me. That's what makes it so wonderful. If only the people who had similar families could enjoy it, then it would have a very limited appeal. But even people like me, who don't recognize themselves or their relations in it, can still appreciate the characterizations.

"The night was sultry."

[–] loploppresents 13 years ago

The family in the movie was nothing like my extended family but the movie still felt true to me. That's what makes it so wonderful. If only the people who had similar families could enjoy it, then it would have a very limited appeal. But even people like me, who don't recognize themselves or their relations in it, can still appreciate the characterizations.

Oh, the characters in the movie were nothing like my family. I meant that the tiny details -- the women preparing the food, the children going off to play, the sharing of old photographs, the slight differences between the way you run your household and the way other people run theirs and the uncertainty you feel while you're a guest, and the overall awkwardness of spending all that time with people you don't really know that well -- those are the things that I recognized. Many, if not all, of those things are things that anyone can relate to.

And I don't think you have to relate to a movie to enjoy it. There are plenty of movies I enjoy because they open up an entirely different world for me. In this movie those small things that I recognized only added to my enjoyment, which still would have been great even without them.

[–] DonNova 12 years ago

People in this thread are crazy. They keep saying, "Oh, but we get to glimpse a bit of their life for two days...it's so great because it was genuine...I can relate to it..." Yeah well guess what? You can go to your relatives house too and be just as bored out of your mind as this film was. You can't get anymore "genuine" than that.

[–] pdarling 12 years ago

Well guess what, not everybody *can* go to their relatives' house, because they move away or get alienated or outlive them, or never got to have them in the first place. This movie shows that intimacy taken for granted at the time and as such is a gem, for some of us.

[–] DonNova 12 years ago

Ah, so I guess only people that *can't* go to their relatives' house will consider this a "gem" then. Guess that's why I didn't like this movie .

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Replicant-88 12 years ago

Go watch The Expendables 2, Moron

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[–] Kawada_Kira 10 years ago

I have to wonder how these shallow, superficial people on this thread even came across this movie. Go watch some Michael Bay films and leave intelligent films to intelligent people.

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