Pray for Japan

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  • Opened March 14, 2012 
  • 1 hr 37 min
  • NR

  • On March 11, 2011, Japan’s Tohoku coastal region was destroyed by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami that followed. PRAY FOR JAPAN takes place in the devastated region of Ishinomaki, Miyagi – the largest coastal city in Tohoku with a population of over 160,000 people. Filmmaker Stu Levy – an American living in Japan - filmed the tsunami aftermath during his trips to Tohoku as a volunteer and over a period of 6 weeks, captured over 50 hours of footage. PRAY FOR JAPAN focuses on four key perspectives of the tragedy – School, Shelter, Family, and Volunteers. With each perspective we meet victims who faced significant obstacles and fought to overcome them. Through these four vantage points, the audience is able to understand the vast ramifications of this large-scale natural disaster – and the battle these real-life heroes fought on behalf of their loved ones and their hometown. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Kyoka Suzuki, Ryoichi Wago
  • Director: Stu Levy
  • Genres: Art House/Foreign, Documentary

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53 out of 100
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Fan Reviews

So-so
Pray for Japan

by laura.kahn

Go in realizing that this is a Japanese film and that it is not really a documentary, it is a positive- viewed propaganda film about the aftermath of the tsunami. This does not mean it does not have...

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Critic Reviews

80
Village Voice
| Ernest Hardy

Filmed over a period of six weeks and supplemented with animated music sequences and chilling news footage of the terrifying deluge, Pray is both an elegy and a love letter. Read full review

50
NPR
| Mark Jenkins

The movie is less than incisive, but it's utterly well-meaning. Read full review

50
Variety
| Justin Chang

It's hard not to be moved by the words of love, gratitude and resilience spoken by earthquake/tsunami survivors and volunteers in Pray for Japan. But well-meaning platitudes go only so far in this sincerely felt, raggedly structured compilation of footage. Read full review

50
The New York Times
| Jeannette Catsoulis

If making a decent movie required only good intentions, then Pray for Japan would be off and running. As it is, though, this muddled collage of random impressions and personal histories, emerging from last year's destruction of the Tohoku coastline by the earthquake and tsunami, doesn't document a tragedy so much as repeat a mantra. Read full review

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A scene from "Pray for Japan."