I tend to love films set in and around the sea - and this uses the locations and natural environment to great effect.

The lead actors also are very measured and convincing - apart (in my view) from when the boy has an over-the-top reaction to his mother's lifestyle. For me, this tipped over into melodrama and it was a shame, as the boy himself is pretty impressive in his taciturn portrayal of teenage confusion during the rest of the film. I blame the script. The girl is great throughout, as was her father and many others in the supporting cast.

The gentle elements of mysticism also added to the overall mood of the film which, although I doubt I'll watch it again, I'd recommend to any fan of lyrical cinema.

What a pleasure! Seldom does a film touch on so many important questions, THE important questions I would say, with so much taste and grace and easiness. Seen through the eyes of two 16 year old teenagers we get to know two families, both in trouble, one dying parent, one split marriage and how each kid reacts to the situation. And this is reflected in the friendship and blossoming relationship between the teenagers. Questions of endless love and the believe of a life after death are raised and form the central drive of the story.

The film is almost two hours long but for these questions you definitely need time to feel and tell. There is no wrong sentence or behavior in this movie, it is a quiet film with many silent moments where you have a chance to look and think. Something very rare nowadays. The overall feeling is a very positive one and you leave the film with hope and joy!

That movie to contemplate the silence of the scenes while we reflect on the events, beautiful, poetic, intense, you have to pay attention to detail, and then I get lost, the charming Kyoko's family, strong scenes like the goat, hunting, bloody, rising sensuality and purity in nudity, simple and painful death, scenes broken by the sea and its surf, cold photography, blue and gray, passionate...