Some pictures of the Criterion Collection release of Still Walking (2008) by renowned Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, who also bought us critically acclaimed films like Nobody Knows, After Life & Our Little Sister.

The original Japanese title for the film is “Aruitemo Aruitemo (歩いても 歩いても)”; it’s coined from the title of the namesake song sung by the late actor Kirin Kiki, who plays the role of the grandmother in this film.

Still Walking isn’t quite my favorite Kore-eda film ( I think the one I enjoy the most is Little Sister, the most “feel good” of them all ), but just like most of his other films there’s still plenty to like if you enjoy the director’s particular style of filmmaking; quiet and contemplative pieces often likened to Yasujiro Ozu’s works.

Here are some pictures of the blu-ray set and its contents; I particularly like the delightful new cover art work and booklet illustrations by Sarah Habibi –

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

– New high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Hirokazu Kore-eda and director of photography Yutaka Yamazaki, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
– New video interviews with Kore-eda and Yamazaki
– Documentary on the making of the film, featuring on-set footage
– Trailer
– New and improved English subtitle translation
– PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Dennis Lim and recipes for the food prepared in the film
– New cover art by Sarah Habibi

Shot in 2008 on 35mm film, the new high definition transfer presents the movie in fantastic quality, with no visible aging or noticeable dirt/scratches, and is to date the best way to enjoy the film on home video in my opinion.

The included video interviews with Kore-eda and Yamazaki that come with the supplementary materials were recorded in 2021, likely at the same time when they were been interviewed for the Criterion’s release of After Life. I certainly enjoyed these interviews and found them quite illuminating; with the considerably amount of time that has passed since the film’s release Kore-eda has had time to deliberate on how he feels about the film today.

This release of Still Walking is another fantastic release by Criterion; perhaps Maboroshi is up next ?

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