Maborosi

{{Infobox film

|name = Maboroshi

|image = Maborosi.jpg

|director = Hirokazu Kore-eda

|producer = Naoe Gozu

|screenplay = Yoshihisa Ogita

|based_on = {{based on|Maboroshi no Hikari|Teru Miyamoto}}

|starring = Makiko Esumi
Tadanobu Asano
Akira Emoto
Sayaka Yoshino
Takashi Naito

|music = Chen Ming-chang

|cinematography = Masao Nakabori

|editing = Tomoyo Ōshima

|distributor = Milestone Films

|released = {{Film date|1995|||Venice Film Festival|1997|3|21|Japan}}

|runtime = 109 minutes

|country = Japan

|language = Japanese

}}

Maborosi, known in Japan as {{Nihongo|Maboroshi no Hikari|幻の光||literally "phantasmic light", but best translated as 'a trick of the light'|lead=yes}}, is a 1995 Japanese drama film by director Hirokazu Kore-eda starring Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano, and Takashi Naito. It is based on a novel by Teru Miyamoto.

Maborosi won a Golden Osella Award for Best Cinematography at the 1995 Venice Film Festival.

Plot

Yumiko (Esumi) and Ikuo (Asano) are a young Osaka couple who have a new baby. One day Ikuo is walking along the railway tracks and is hit and killed by a train. It seems that he may have done this deliberately yet there is no apparent motive. A few years pass. Yumiko agrees to an arranged marriage with a widower, Tamio (Naitō), and she and Yuichi (her son, now played by Gohki Kashima) move to Tamio's house in a rustic village on the Sea of Japan coast.

A drunken spat over a bell Yumiko had given Ikuo just before he died causes Yumiko and Tamio to discuss their strong emotions for their lost loves. Shortly after, Yumiko follows a funeral procession and lingers at the crematorium, until Tamio arrives by car to pick her up, at which point she says she just wants to know why Ikuo killed himself. Tamio suggests that, like the will o' the wisps his father used to see, perhaps something just drew him away from life.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, Maborosi has a List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on {{RT data|count}} reviews, with an average score of {{RT data|average}}.{{Cite Rotten Tomatoes|title=Maborosi|id={{RT data|rtid|noprefix=y}}|type=m|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}} On Metacritic, the film is scored 92 out of a 100, based on 8 reviews.{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/maborosi|title=Metaborosi|website=Metacritic|publisher=CBS Interactive|access-date=2021-03-09}} It garnered a positive reaction from critics upon its American release, and received two thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert on the April 12, 1997 episode of their program.{{cite book |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |author-link1=Roger Ebert |last2=Siskel |first2=Gene |title=Anaconda/Grosse Point Blank/Paradise Road/Keys to Tulsa/Kissed/Mabarosi |date=12 April 1997 |publisher=Buena Vista Television}} Ebert further praised the film in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, noting its "astonishing beauty and sadness" and the influence of Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu.{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/maborosi-1997|title=Maborosi|date=1997-03-21|last=Ebert|first=Roger|authorlink=Roger Ebert|website=RogerEbert.com|access-date=2021-03-09}} It was later included on Siskel and Ebert's "Best Films of 1997" episode in January 1998.{{cite news |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |last2=Siskel |first2=Gene |title=The Best Films of 1997 |publisher=Buena Vista Television |date=17 January 1998}}

References

Bibliography

{{cite news|first=Edward|last=Guthmann|title=FILM REVIEW -- The Delicate House of 'Maborosi': Japanese film a lovely meditation on meaning of life|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/reviews/movies/MABOROSI.DTL|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=1996-11-29|access-date=2009-09-15}}
{{cite news|first=Kevin|last=Thomas|title=Maborosi: 'Maborosi' Takes Powerful Journey of Spirit|url=http://www.courant.com/topic/cl-movie961028-3,0,2903918.story|newspaper=The Hartford Courant|date=1996-10-26|access-date=2009-09-15|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612041448/http://www.courant.com/topic/cl-movie961028-3,0,2903918.story|archive-date=2011-06-12}}
{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Nathaniel|title=DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD; Volume 1 Redux|orig-year=2002|year=2006|publisher=FAB Press|location=Godalming, England|isbn=1-903254-39-6|pages=453–454}}