The Taste of Tea (Limited Edition)

The Taste of Tea (Limited Edition)
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: The Taste of Tea
Director: n/a
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Dolby, Limited Edition, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 237 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-03
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: VIZ Pictures

Movie Reviews of The Taste of Tea (Limited Edition)

Movie Review: The Surreal Life
Summary: 5 Stars

It is hard to put a finger on what exactly is so great about "The Taste of Tea" ("Cha no Aji"). There is no real story to speak of, the movie drifts from one bizarre instance to another, and becomes just a hodge-podge of small vignettes vaguely connected by a circumstance of family. A bit like real life, I suppose, but without the bleeding ghosts and giant girls.

What ever it is, "The Taste of Tea" is a great flick. Director Ishii Katsuhito (Party 7) has put together a modern version of an Ozu film, focusing on tiny family dramas that anyone could encounter and making them the focus. No grand drama, no heroes and villains, just life. Everything focuses around the Haruno family, with each member having a story to tell. Effects are used to create the surreal atmosphere, but never overpower the story. An American equivalent would be Big Fish, which also combines the nostalgic with the surreal.

The ensemble cast is pure quality, each of them stars of the Japanese film industry. Asano Tadanobu (Kakihara from Ichi the Killer) plays a younger brother who needs time with his family to recuperate from lost love. Tezuka Satomi (Isola) plays the mother, a woman who has given up her career as an animator to raise her family, but wants to break back in now that her children are older. Gashuin Tatsuya (Spirited Away) is amazing as the unhinged grandfather, a man with an artist's soul and the innocence of a child. Anno Hideaki, creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion, even pops in for a cameo role.

The scenery of rural Japan is also beautifully filmed, and is enough to make you nostalgic for it even if you have never been there. All the sites and sounds are perfect, with vivid colors crisp and alive. I have spent some time in rural Japan, and "The Taste of Tea" made me want to chuck my job, pack a suitcase, and head back to the mountains and rice fields and just soak up the lifestyle.

This limited edition of the DVD is worth getting picking up over the regular one if you can. A two-disk collection, there is a subtitled 90-min "Making of" feature, as well as the full version of the animation "Super Big" which was featured in the movie.

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Summary of The Taste of Tea (Limited Edition)

Meet the Harunos, a rather unconventional, but happy and loving family nonetheless. They live in a small town in the mountains just out of Tokyo where life is good and quiet - but that doesn't mean they don't have their own little problems.

As 8-year old Sachiko (Maya Banno) tries to get rid of a giant version of herself who seems to pop up everywhere, her older brother Hajime (Takahiro Sato), privately wrestles with his love-struck heart. Meanwhile, their mother Yoshiko (Satomi Tezuka) is working hard, coming out of retirement as an animator, as her husband and professional hypnotist Nobuo (Tomokazu Miura) watches on with slight apprehension. Yoshiko's brother, Ayano (Tadanobu Asano) is just visiting his hometown and staying with the family, but also has ashidden agenda; he needs to come to terms with a romance that ended years ago. Even Nobuo's brother and successful manga artist Todoroki has his problems. It's his birthday soon and he wants to give himself something special. And lastly there's Grandpa, the most bizarre and perhaps the most perceptive of all, who continues to search for a better way to live life to the full.

Written, directed and edited by Katsuhito ISHII, The Taste of Tea is a unique and gentle family portrait tackling the universal themes of time, people and their lives.

DISC 1:
Feature: THE TASTE OF TEA
Director & Cast Profile
Japanese original trailers
VIZ Pictures Presents
Dolby Digital Audio

DISC 2:
Special Feature 1: Making of THE TASTE OF TEA
(90 MIN. Documentary with English Subtitles)
Speical Feature 2: Animation SUPER BIG (3 MIN.)

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