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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

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:

WOWOW, Comme des Cinémas, Asmik Ace

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'.

---

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.

---

Soundtracks

Kaito & Atsushi
Composed by Hashiken
Piano by David Hadjadj
Cello by Maeva Le Berre
Arranged and Performed by David Hadjadj and Maeva Le Berre

User Reviews

The film is great, Metacritic reviews expose Hollywood critics as buffoons

This review is not about the film but the crude American taste.

Whenever my cinema-savvy friends criticised Hollywood, I'd jokingly dismiss their arguments, saying I enjoy action-packed, fun films for afternoons and that Hollywood has great production. I stand corrected.

This film has been given a 5 by metacritic. Check out the reviews. They say silent moments are awkward.. or that stares are long... I had an epiphany that Americans and their layman critics have actually no appreciation for an actual good work when they see one. Everybody likes a big Mac but in no way it means you can slam a 5-michelin star cuisine.

I always acknowledged Hollywood films try to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It makes them fun to a point. But I realised today it's not just their audience that is unnaturally confused with junk, but apparently American select critics are actually the lowest common denominator.

P.S. IMDb will not be a universal source until it goes beyond Hollywood standards.