Harmonium (2016) [Masters of Cinema] Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD)

I guess you need to appreciate a film with a slow pace and not much action to like this one, although it does deliver a punch. I am not sure about the ending, but overall I thought the story was subtle, the acting excellent. I liked how the characters changed and revealed different sides as the film progressed.

Harmonium starts off seeming like a fairly predictable story. Toshio runs a workshop from his home, where he lives with his wife and daughter, who are Christians (which is fairly unusual in Japan). One day, Yasaka, someone from Toshio's past, turns up out of the blue, having been released from prison, and starts to integrate himself into their lives. To say any more would be to diminish the impact of the rest of the film, but I will just say it doesn't exactly go where you would expect it to. It's quite a slow, sombre film in which we learn slowly but steadily about the characters' lives and pasts, but the plot is expertly revealed throughout and takes some very dark and bleak turns. Despite looking quite low-budget (it has something of a low-key digital video look), it is very well directed and acted.

Award winning Japanese drama acted brilliantly. This is a very dark drama which slowly unfolds as a man from the past comes to stay with a family. Events unfold which not only changes the family but the personalities of the people that make it up. Can they get the answers they seal and if they get them what will they do with that information.

This is like a Greek tragedy in its sense of inevitability and dark drama.Everything revolves around a tightly knit cast of characters and there is no spare dialogue, each word and each action is carefully integrated into the unfolding story.Themes of punishment, redemption, forgiveness and the harshness of fate are all bound into this compelling tale.

what a load of rubbish. high on my list of worst films ever.