Voices in the Wind (2020) Poster

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8/10
Very melancholy.
devosannalie17 October 2021
Voices in the Wind ( Kaze no Denwa ) is a 2020 Japanese film about a fictional high school student who lost her family in the Tohoku tsunami and returns to her hometown to visit the wind phone years later.

Abseloutely devastating, definitely knowing that this movie is based on events that happend in real life. Troughout the movie i felt so much compassion for Haru it saddens me that there are actually people who went trough what Haru had gone trough. This film is slow but a beautiful making. All the characters you will meet troughout this film all have such melancholic stories but i found this beautfiul how each and one of our lifes are so different from each other. The actress Serena Motola suited her character Haru very well! The ending was very beauteous it was like Haru finally let go of her family and accepted that her family was gone even beside that she still choice to continue living.

The wind phone stands on a hill in Namiita, Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture. Since the 2011 earthquake and tsunamis more than 30,000 people have come to speak their hearts to those wo are no longer here.
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8/10
Devastating yet hopeful.
net_orders14 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A deeply moving motion picture almost single handedly carried with deeply moving, low-keyed acting by Serena Motola. Motola heads a diverse group of talented performers some of whom may be playing themselves (such as immigrants from the Middle East in restaurant scenes).

This is an atypical road picture mostly confined to communities impacted by the 2011 triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and reactor melt down) in North Eastern Honshu. While repair of the physical destruction seems mostly realized, this is far from true for the emotional trauma suffered by surviving and returning residents. The latter may never be completely healed.

Cinematography is good except for headache inducing fast panning shots. Sound field is exceptional. Subtitles are close enough.

In her closing scenes (shot inside Otsuchi's famous disconnected "wind phone booth" where the grief stricken can "phone" their dearly departed), Motola displays a tour de force of emotions in a long single take. Acting rarely gets better than this! Highly recommended.

Viewed at Smithsonian/ JICC J-Film event. WILLIAM FLANIGAN
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