There are some foreign films so steeped in their culture that as an American who knows the world only through movies, I find myself thoroughly puzzles. Sound of the Mountain is one of those movies.
The story is simple enough. A man bonds with his daughter-in-law, and is upset by the way she's treated by his odious son.
But constantly through the movie I felt like I was just missing something. Someone makes a comment and then the woman turns her head in a way to suggest something significant has happened. The man spends time talking about when someone mispronounces a word and I can't figure out why that's interesting.
I can see there is a concept of proper behavior but I can't quite find its outlines. A lot is left unsaid and I'm not sure what is meant.
I just felt kind of lost.
It's not a problem I have with all Japanese movies. I love Kurosawa, after all.
I'm not giving this a star rating because I don't feel qualified to judge this movie. It is well filmed and looks very nice, the acting is quite good, and the final scene is lovely and touching, yet I did not, for the most part, enjoy it, and if I were to give a star rating based on my subjective experience I would give it a 6 at best.
The story is simple enough. A man bonds with his daughter-in-law, and is upset by the way she's treated by his odious son.
But constantly through the movie I felt like I was just missing something. Someone makes a comment and then the woman turns her head in a way to suggest something significant has happened. The man spends time talking about when someone mispronounces a word and I can't figure out why that's interesting.
I can see there is a concept of proper behavior but I can't quite find its outlines. A lot is left unsaid and I'm not sure what is meant.
I just felt kind of lost.
It's not a problem I have with all Japanese movies. I love Kurosawa, after all.
I'm not giving this a star rating because I don't feel qualified to judge this movie. It is well filmed and looks very nice, the acting is quite good, and the final scene is lovely and touching, yet I did not, for the most part, enjoy it, and if I were to give a star rating based on my subjective experience I would give it a 6 at best.