Tony Takitani

"(It) has about it something approaching perfection."

"Ichikawa has made a film that's more a visual poem than a narrative, and all the more exquisite for it."

"A delicate wisp of a film with a surprisingly sharp sting..."

"Quiet and subdued but finally heartrending, this Japanese drama by Jun Ichikawa goes bone-deep into its title character..."

"Issei Ogata turns in another exceptional display of solicitous inhibition in Jun Ichikawa’s sublime study of misplaced obsession."

"It becomes like watching a film trapped in time... but the feeling this conveys isn’t rapturous or nostalgic but something altogether hopeless."

"It's the kind of film that can slip by, unnoticed and misunderstood, if you're not precisely tuned to its wavelength. Get there, and you'll be captivated."

"It's a marvelously moody meditation, beautiful to look at and beautiful to ponder as the camera slowly pans from one scene to the next, framing life as still life."

"It’s a quiet dream of a movie... it’s like Vertigo remade in a sedately haunted style of Japanese lyricism."

"What could have been a cold, lifeless exercise is actually quite compelling (if not exactly warming)..."