Maborosi is by far my favourite of his. Followed by his TV documentary Without Memory. Followed closely by Distance, then After Life, Still Walking and after that his work doesn’t really do anything for me. Nobody Knows is alright, Hana is a very mediocre samurai film (though interesting for its unconventionality), and Air Doll is… I barely think of it as a Kore-eda.
But Maborosi is a film that I’ve been utterly obsessed by since I first saw it. It’s always around the three or four films that constantly float in my mind. It almost feels like an extension of myself at this point; a means for me to point to and identify myself as a cinephile and person. Maybe the greatest film I’ve ever seen.
I love your guys’ work, by the way. Adored Luv’n in the Black Country and Walk 7. This looks wonderful. Beautiful trailer. Can’t wait for an opportunity to see the feature.
Maborosi yes, although it’s closely contended by Still Walking for me. Funny you should mention Air Doll, I’ve been warned that it’s best I don’t watch it. Hana, well I can’t get hold of it, but I’d still watch it as I tend to get wrapped up in samurai films. And with Kore-eda’s visual style, I can imagine it not being too bad…we’ll see.
Maborosi is always ranked high on my list, possibly with Late Spring and Seven Samurai. I’m also big on Hayao Miyazaki, albeit animation, but he maintains a visual style somewhere in between Kore-eda and Ozu.
I’d have to go w/ Maborosi also.
I initially saw it at the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge, Ma, though I’d also already loved his work, having seen “After Life” as well as “Nobody Knows”.
The only thing that bothers me is the shitty transfer to DVD that the studio did on Maborosi. It’s such a luminous and exquisite film and so much of that is lost in compression/transition.
Perhaps someday The Criterion Collection will bring it under its wings & do a better job of it, for it’s such a lovely film.
Definitely Maborosi but Nobody Knows and Still Walking are good as well.
Maborosi is, along with Abraham Valley, my favourite film of the last 2 decades.
emgenie
I’m a huge fan of Kore-eda Hirokazu, so this is my documentary ode to him. Let me know what you think?
http://vimeo.com/23963455
My favourite film of his is obviously, Maborosi. What’s yours?