Movie comments: CB

Note: I cross posted this review under the European movies folder.

Last night I felt in the mood for a movie and watched "Cherry blossoms (2009)." I'd picked this German movie up a couple of months ago after reading the reviews on Amazon. They were almost all five star reviews.

Anyway, here are my comments.

This movie revolves around an older German couple living in Bavaria. The man is scheduled to retire next year, whereas the woman is a stay at home wife. When she finds out her husband is dying, she arranges a trip to visit their three grown children, two of which live in Berlin and one in Tokyo.

Now the family is somewhat typical of many Western families today. By that I mean it's partially dysfunctional. The woman is the glue that holds the dispersed family together.

The film is essentially a character study of the husband and to a lesser extent, his wife and children. The family is used as the pivot point to explore the man's emotional relationship with his wife.

The first half or so of the movie takes place in Germany and the last half in Japan. There were a couple of surprises along the way that I hadn't anticipated.

I found the acting to be excellent, but the story itself unfolds a little too slowly—at least for me. A few times I was bored, tempted to fast-forward, but I didn't. There was something about the movie that kept me watching.

After a while, I began to wonder whether the movie could deliver, could justify my spending two hours watching it. I was having doubts. In the end, however, it did deliver on its promise. I thought the ending was beautiful.

I give the movie 3 stars (maybe slightly higher) out of 5.

Plot

Coming to terms with grief and loss.