Still the Water (2014)

On a subtropical island, a teenage couple deal with the interwoven cycle of life, death and love.

Director:

Naomi Kawase

Writer:

Naomi Kawase (screenplay)

Stars:

Nijirô Murakami, Junko Abe, Miyuki Matsuda

4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Nijirô Murakami	...	Kaito
Junko Abe	...	Kyôko (as Jun Yoshinaga)
Miyuki Matsuda	...	Isa
Tetta Sugimoto	...	Tôru
Makiko Watanabe	...	Misaki
Jun Murakami	...	Atsushi
Hideo Sakaki
Sadae Sakae
Kazurô Maeda
Mitsuaki Nakano
Yukiharu Kawabata
Yukiyo Maeda
Kinue Yasuda
Fujio Tokita

Storyline

On the subtropical Japanese island of Amami, traditions about nature remain eternal. During the full-moon night of traditional dances in August, 16-year-old Kaito discovers a dead body floating in the sea. His girlfriend Kyoko will attempt to help him understand this mysterious discovery. Together, Kaito and Kyoko will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death and love.

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Plot Keywords:

infidelity | full frontal female nudity | full male frontal nudity | underwater scene | death | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

France Japan Spain

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

26 July 2014 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Still the Water

Filming Locations:

Amami, Kagoshima, Japan

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$383,948

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eddie Saeta S.A., Kumie, Xian Longrui Film And TV Culture Media Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Japanese title of the film, Futatsume no mado, literally means 'the second window'.

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Alternate Versions

The UK release was cut, scenes from the film were originally shown to the BBFC for advice. At which the company were informed that one scene was likely to be in breach of the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937 and was therefore unlikely to be suitable for classification. When the film was submitted for formal classification, this scene had been cut. This version of the film was consequently classified 15 without further changes.

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Soundtracks

Kyoko & Kaito
Composed by Hashiken
Piano by David Hadjadj
Arranged and Performed by David Hadjadj

User Reviews

You might still the water, but the boredom comes at you like a tsunami...

As much as I enjoy Asian cinema, it does happen every now and then that an unimpressive and boring movie surfaces. And "Still the Water" (aka "Futatsume no mado") happened to be one such movie.

The movie is set up for being potentially a great story, with the story revolving around the cycles of life, death and love, as seen from a teenage couple's point of view. And the fact that it takes place on a subtropical paradise Island just bolsters the possibility of it being great.

However, director Naomi Kawase butchered everything that could possibly been a good movie.

I managed to sit through 25 minutes of "Still the Water" before I had to give up out of sheer and complete boredom. Nothing, and I do mean literally nothing had happened in those 25 minutes. And I had no desire whatsoever to continue on watching the story, as it was highly unlikely that the movie would change pace and change character. No, this was just too much of a snoozefest as told by the director.

The acting in the movie wasn't particularly outstanding. Now, I am not saying that the cast didn't perform well, because they did perform adequately, I would say. It is just that no one was outstanding and no one left a memorable impression with their performance. And I am sure that it is to blame on the script and the writers, because the characters lacked personalities, quirks, traits and could essentially have been dolls instead.

There was an abundance of beautiful things to look at in the movie, in the sense of location and shots. But a movie can't sustain itself on visual grace alone.

There is no chance of me returning to finish the rest of the movie, because it just lacked anything even remotely appealing and interesting. And it just goes to prove that not everything in the Asian cinema is a grand and glorious experience.