I Wish (Kiseki)

Koichi (the fat one) and Ryunosuke (the ‘on acid’ one) are two brothers separated along with their parents: Koichi now living with his mother and grandparents in Kagoshima and Ryunosuke in Fukuoka with his father. Once a happy family living in Osaka, they are now divided, with Koichi in a sleepy town in southern Kyushu overlooked by a rumbling volcano; and Ryunosuke with his musician father in modern and vibrant Fukuoka to the island’s north. Wanting his family back together again, like Janet Jackson, Koichi comes up with an idea to make it happen.

Each with a group of friends, the brothers makes the trip to Kumamoto: the point they calculate where the new Sakura Shinkansen will meet in opposing directions. When this happens, miracles will follow.

Of course, this idea is childish – that’s why this is a film about children. Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest feature seems to combine two of his previous releases, ‘Nobody Knows’ and the Ozu-like ‘Still Walking’, looking at the break-up of family through the eyes of a child. Using real-life brothers (well, their family name is the same, anyway) for the leads, Hirokazu again captures the imagination with a film that furthers his place among the greats of Japanese cinema.

Like many of his other films, ‘I Wish’ is simple, but effective in his tackling of subjects in modern society, like an Ozu for a new generation, with the dreams and motivations of all cast members considered.