I Wish

Kore-eda #8 I really hate to give another great movie four stars but this is probably as close as possible to 4 1/2 stars and maybe itll be there in the morning. I Wish is a film about dreams, goals, & expectations, and the disappointments that come with them. Maybe Ryunosoke’s Dad won’t stop gambling, and Marble will never come back, and maybe Grandpa will never get his sponge cake right. But it doesn’t feel like that in the moment. I Wish is Kore-eda at his most whimsical, and for 2 hours you’re swept away in a whirlwind of childhood innocence & joy, with the last 30 minutes coming as close as you could get to a live-action Ghibli film. Very much feels like a companion piece, and the antithesis of Nobody Knows, one of Kore-Eda’s best. Also, some of the best use of music i’ve heard in a film, beautifully nostalgic and heartwarming.