I Wish

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  • Opened May 11, 2012 
  • 2 hr 8 min
  • PG | Language, Smoking and Mild Thematic Elements

  • Twelve-year-old Koichi lives with his mother and retired grandparents in Kagoshima, in the southern region of Kyushu, Japan. His younger brother Ryunosuke lives with their father in Hakata, northern Kyushu. The brothers have been separated by their parents’ divorce and Koichi’s only wish is for his family to be reunited. When he learns that a new bullet train line will soon open, linking the two towns, he starts to believe that a miracle will take place the moment these new trains first pass each other at top speed. With help from the adults around him, Koichi sets out on a journey with a group of friends, each hoping to witness a miracle that will improve their difficult lives. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Koki Maeda, Ohshiro Maeda, Ryoga Hayashi, Seinosuke Nagayoshi, Kinya Uchida, Manami Hashimoto, Rento Isobe, Nene Ohtsuka, Jô Odagiri, Yui Natsukawa, Yoshio Harada, Kirin Kiki, Isao Hashizume
  • Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
  • Genres: Art House/Foreign, Drama, Family

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Critic Reviews

100
Washington Post
|

The vignettes are linked as much by theme as story, yet they're carefully structured and delicately balanced. Read full review

100
New York Daily News
| Elizabeth Weitzman

Kore-eda does extraordinary work with his young cast, who deliver gentle, natural performances in a beautifully told story of heartbreak and hope. Deceptively modest and utterly lovely, it's one of the most magical films about childhood I have ever seen. Read full review

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
| Steven Rea

Kore-eda, deploying a Western pop score by the Japanese indie-rock band Quruli, just lets these kids be kids. Read full review

88
Chicago Sun-Times
| Roger Ebert

The brothers Maeda are pure gold; the film captures what feels like effortless joy in their lives, and it is never something they seem to be reaching for. Read full review

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Ohshiro Maeda and Koki Maeda in "I Wish."