Still the Water

Still the Water (2つ目の窓, Futatsume no mado) is a 2014 Japanese romance film directed by Naomi Kawase. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[1] It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[2]

Still the Water
Film poster
Directed by	Naomi Kawase
Produced by	Rémi Burah Takehiko Aoki Masamichi Sawada Naomi Kawase
Written by	Naomi Kawase
Starring	Nijiro Murakami Jun Yoshinaga
Music by	Hasiken
Edited by	Tina Baz
Distributed by	Asmik Ace
Release date	20 May 2014 (2014-05-20) (Cannes) 26 July 2014 (2014-07-26) (Japan)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Kawase has described the film as her "masterpiece", deserving of the Palme d'Or and states: "This is the first time that I have said this about a film. After the Camera d'Or and the Grand Prix, there is nothing I want more than the Palme d'Or. I have my eyes on nothing else."[3]

The film was taken in the scenic nature of Amami City, Amami Ōshima, in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan in 2013.[4] The music was produced by Hasiken,[5] a male singer-songwriter from Chichibu, Saitama.

Cast

Cast and crew at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

• Nijiro Murakami
• Jun Yoshinaga
• Tetta Sugimoto
• Miyuki Matsuda
• Makiko Watanabe
• Jun Murakami
• Hideo Sakaki
• Fujio Tokita

Reception

Reviewing it at Cannes, Nikola Grozdanovic at Indiewire gave it a B+, stating that "'Still The Water' is a spectacle for the senses, which, if there is any justice, will be remembered as one of the greater films of the competition."[6] In The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave it 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "Kawase's film is sometimes beautiful and moving but I couldn't help occasionally finding it a little contrived and self-conscious."[7] In Film Business Asia, Derek Elley gave the film a rating of 2 out of 10, calling it "more empty, pretentious ramblings from self-styled auteur Kawase Naomi".[8]

References

1. "2014 Official Selection". Cannes. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
2. "TIFF Adds 'Clouds of Sils Maria' and 'Two Days, One Night,' Reveals 5 More Lineups". Indiewire. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
3. "Naomi Kawase: 'masterpiece' worth the Palme D'Or". Agence France-Presse. 10 May 2014.
4. "Lecture on cinematography in Amami by director Kawase" (in Japanese). Amami Online. 20 May 2014. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014.
5. "News, HASIKEN official" (in Japanese). Hasiken. 20 May 2014.
6. Grozdanovic, Nikola. "Cannes Review: Naomi Kawase's 'Still The Water' Is A Spectacle For The Senses". Indiewire. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
7. Bradshaw, Peter (20 May 2014). "Cannes 2014 review: Still the Water – come on in, the daughter's lovely". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
8. Derek Elley (21 May 2014). "Still the Water". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 1 June 2014.

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Still the Water on IMDb