Hirokazu Koreeda can do no wrong. The director of Shoplifters and Still Walking is a master of dissecting complex family dynamics through a handful of events. In Our Little Sister, three close sisters who live at their grandmother’s house learn that their absent father has passed. They travel to the mountains to attend his funeral and meet their half-sister, Suzu, for the first time. Suzu is invited to live with the sisters and join their bond.
This movie is a true-to-the-form slice of life, it’s almost drama-free. This absence of plot is an absence of distractions: the sisters are all that matters to Koreeda. His only focus is on how this family becomes bigger, sees past grief, and how the group of close-knit sisters that grew up together can make room for a new addition.
"Nobody could describe the movie as eventful (and viewers may be surprised to learn that it's adapted from a graphic novel), yet the thrust of Kore-eda's storytelling, as so often, is that even a quiet life can be a full one."
— Anthony Lane
After the death of their estranged father, 3 adult sisters invite their teenaged half-sister to live with them.
Cannes
1 nomination
"Never shying away from the picturesque, the film depicts a vivid world that is crystal clear, gleaming, and suffused with life."
— Aliza Ma