Closing the 60th Berlinale, the new film from Yoji Yamada! These reviews point out the usual good/bad things of Yamada’s work.
Family melodrama has rarely been as shamelessly tear-jerking, nor as insipid, as in About Her Brother, a featherweight offering from veteran Japanese director Yoji Yamada. (It) is a lacklustre, unashamedly old-fashioned effort that isn’t likely to make much impact outside Japan.
• THR
Yamada’s take overflows with Capra-esque goodwill and nice characters. He lets many a farcical or tearful scene run beyond its course, but he also catches some sublime moments when characters’ dignity rises above their misfortune or unfulfilled existences.
• Variety
Though Yamada calls his film an homage to the earlier drama, this run-of-the-mill meller offers few genuine laughs and zero texture. Lacking the style of the helmer’s period pieces, the pic’s overt sentimentality won’t milk tears out of most foreign filmgoers.
{ 0 comments… add one now }