The Taste of Tea

Directed by Katsuhito Ishii

Film Movement Classics

2004

143 Minutes

Japan

Japanese

Comedy, Fantasy, Asian, Classics

Film Studies, Asian Studies

Not Rated

Library Pricing:

DVD $150.00

Blu-ray $150.00

PPR $350.00

DRL $499.00

PPR+DRL $599.00

To submit an order, request a preview screener, or ask a question contact Erin Farrell

erin@filmmovement.com

The pristine image of the Japanese family is turned on its uber-polite head with surreal aplomb in this far out collection of hilarious vignettes. Set in the languid countryside, mom is an eccentric artist who eschews household chores for an animation project with occasional help from crazy grandpa. Meanwhile dad is just your everyday hypnotherapist. Their teenaged son suffers from hangups about the opposite sex while his little sister must contend with a doppelganger. Uncle is a groovy music producer on a respite whose ghostly past experiences still haunt him. Maverick director Katsuhito Ishii (who created the animated sequence in Kill Bill: Volume 1) pulled out all the stops for this endearing outré take on the Japanese psyche. Replete with non-stop irreverent gags, anime digressions, musical numbers and candy-coated lysergic passages, The Taste of Tea is, “a true delight that elevates feel-good cinema to a whole new level and charms from start to finish” - Screen Anarchy.

Cast

Takahiro Sato
Maya Sakano
Tadanobu Asano
Satomi Tezuka
Tatsuya Gashuin
Anna Tsuchiya
Tomoko Nakajima
Tomokazu Miura

Highest Rating
"Patience is often rewarded, and it certainly is by this droll and oddly touching film by Katsuhito Ishii. The movie is a family portrait as painted by a moderately demented Cubist: the family involved is nothing like yours, yet somehow, in its fractured way, exactly like yours."

Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
Highest Rating
"A messy, heartfelt entanglement of tangential indulgences into the wild eccentricities of human behavior."

Rob Humanick, Slant Magazine
Highest Rating
"The most charming comedy in town, writer-director-editor Katsuhito Ishii's 2004 piece is a modern Japanese variation on You Can't Take It With You, with some lovely fantastical flourishes."

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Highest Rating
"Ishii's domestic frame is as tightly packed and layered as his horizons are expansive."

Michelle Orange, Village Voice
Highest Rating
"[W]hile there are multiple characters and all manner of oddball excursions, everything is anchored in a gentle, affectionate view of a household whose members are ever so slowly finding themselves. The tea that everybody drinks is warm and restorative, and so is Ishii’s strange, sentimental film."

Anton Bitel, Little White Lies
Highest Rating
"'Weird but cool,' as one character says -- yet the movie is also remarkably touching."

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
Highest Rating
"Touching and funny, with charming performances."

V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Highest Rating
"The Taste of Tea is an excellent film that manages to work on a number of levels, and a true tribute to Japanese quirkiness."

Panos Kotzathanasis, Asian Movie Pulse
Highest Rating
"The imagery is joyous, delightfully imaginative, serene and beautiful, and ultimately enchanting."

Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Highest Rating
"A true delight that elevates feel-good cinema to a whole new level and charms from start to finish."

Niels Matthijs, Screen Anarchy