As many review here, I find it hard to write about the movie without spoiling the viewer and fail to describe how beautifully the movie is done.
It is best to not read any review at all before watching the movie to let your mind work the miracle.
In essence, the movie is about a tale of self-discovery of 2boys growing up being told in different perspectives of people closest to them. With each perspective being told, more details are provided for the viewers to conjugate the real story of what actually happens.
As other Koreeda's work, the movie would leave you in daze and linger for some time as viewers cant help but keep contemplating and pondering over the ending, the characters and the message of the movie.
Koreeda is truly a master of story telling and building emotion through a seemingly uneventful narration and seemingly “normal” characters. Still, one can always feel his effort in avoiding to force a conclusive ending and closing of the story, as if to maintain his neutral stand and to respect viewers’ interpretation of the tale. That is another thing I admire of Koreeda as it is incredibly hard for a director to avoid forcing his own view of the story without making it illogical and incomprehensible. One also feels his love for human as he refrains from condemning any character in the story.
By unveiling the story through different perspectives here, perhaps Koreeda wants to remind us again that there is always 2 sides of the story; and we should not jump to conclusion with our own prejudice and limited experience in this modern era where everyone is ready to attack others through the use of sns without properly contemplating over the event. How our interpretation of a story can go very wrong with misleading fabrication and gossips. And how we might have hurt others by our own prejudices and judgment built by societal norms of “normal”.
Who is the monster here but us human, flawed and frightened, traumatized by our own societal norms and interpretation.