Cherry Blossoms was just one of 15 films I have seen this year at the Seattle International Film Festival, and it has beaten my previous favourite from the festival this year, 'The Home Song Stories', into first place. Cherry Blossoms was not just my favourite film of the festival, it has probably got to be the best film I have seen in a long time hands down.

To be honest, when the film opened up with the cartoon like drawings of Mount Fuji I was a little dubious, but as soon as the first scene kicked in I was hooked! We are slowly drawn into the life of Rudi and Trudi Angermeier, opening up with Tudi being told by doctors that her husband does not have long to live and that maybe they should go on a vacation, an adventure. Through Tudi's character and voice over we begin to learn about who her husband is and what might make him tick. This is all done at the top end of the film before we move on to see Rudi and Trudi visit their children, now grown up adults with their own busy lives in Berlin. They have another son who lives in Tokyo who we meet later in the film.

What follows is a very heart-felt exploration of an older couple very much in love. It was interesting to see how badly their children seem to treat them. We later find out in the film that is because their children believe that Rudi had kind of suppressed Trudi throughout her life and not let her do what she really wanted to do, instead she devoted her life to her husband and children. Whilst that may have been true on some levels, we also see a very different side between Rudi and Trudi in their intimate moments. They seem very much in love with one another and Trudi in particular seems to have been happy to have spent her life looking after the ones she loved. It seems like the children thought it was one way, but the reality was very different. I wonder how often that kind of assumption can come up in real family life? Probably quite common I would think.

So just when we are enjoying the movie, and smiling as we get to know these people, a big twist happens. I won't tell you what it is, but I will say that I did not see it coming at all and it changes everything from that moment on.

And here my friends, is where I have to stop incorporating elements of what happened in the film into my review, for fear of spoiling it for you.

The film incorporated a lot of threads and various symbolic elements along the way, but none of them ever seem forced. They all fit nicely into the flow of things.

There is a massive transition between where Rudi's character in the film starts out, and where he ends up. His journey is wonderful and it seems very natural. There isn't some kind of sudden flip, it is very gradual and perfectly done. Often in films when you let a scene drag on or spend too long telling one element of the story it can obviously seem very tedious and boring, but this was not the case here at all. Everything had it's own place and played it's part it helping to tell the story in a very natural and honest way.

It takes a lot for me to cry when watching a film (I'm a guy!), but Cherry Blossoms did it for me, and I cried more than once. The reason for this I believe is two fold. The first being that as I watched this couple, I couldn't help but make my own personal connection to it. Thinking about my own relationship with my wife and how we may be when we get to Rudi and Trudi's age. The other reason is that you begin to care for these characters so much that when something happens to them, it makes you just want to physically reach out your hand and help them. This is all VERY powerful cinematic stuff! If a movie can take you on a sweeping ride where you laugh and cry, then that is a REAL movie! So many films you see are OK, fine, whatever, etc, etc, but it is very rare that you come across a film which really gives you something back in such a powerful way.

I can see that the writer/director had a very intimate understanding of the people and places. Whether that be from personal experience or just observation and thought. Whatever the case, it was brilliantly executed. The film was so perfect, that when I go back and think about the film, I remember other elements I had forgotten about, elements which just make it so much more perfect in my mind. It really felt like the writer just sat down and poured out the film onto paper, not over thinking or analysing it all. The truth I would guess may be quite different, but I think that's part of the charm when you see a perfect film. It's so flawless that it looks almost effortless!

From this moment forward, I shall be furiously stalking the works of the writer/director, because this is an artist to be reckoned with. Cherry Blossoms is a masterpiece which shall immediately be going on my very small list of all time top films that everyone should see!

If you would've told me prior to seeing this that I would fall head-over-heels for a film that's about a frustrated Bavarian Butoh dancer, with a tale of homelessness, loneliness, a pink telephone, cabbage rolls…and recycling all in the mix, I'd have laughed out loud.

In fact, I did laugh throughout the course of this wonderful, delicate film (that has the most selfish progeny since "King Lear"). In the opening scene a wife tells a physician, "My husband doesn't really care much for adventure," and, boy, does he have treat—and a trial—in store for him. But so does the audience.

The film's heart is about grief and how we can never really prepare for it. "I'd like my ashes scattered upon the sea," a spouse says to his partner. Fearfully, she says, "Why do you say that now?" And why indeed since we can never plan our end and its circumstances? It takes a young, marginally sane street performer, to tell us exactly what the Great Mystery is all about.

And the use of stunning images from nature, as well as the contorted gestures of Butoh theater…and the equally contorted emotions from a family unaware of who the others are that this film brims over with so many rewards that it can be enjoyed over and over again.

The family dynamics are almost farcical which keep the weight of the subject matter from spilling over into despair. And while the central character's own despair is the subject of the film, it's thrilling to watch him find his way out of it.

Exceptional performances, shimmering cinematography, a truly great film.

One of the best films I have seen the last years. It is not a film for the big audience that likes the common "Hollywood" violence and action without substance. It's a film with a deep and tender story about the contacts and the feelings between an elderly couple and their children and the lost chances to deal with each others lives. Beautiful scenes in Japan with great pictures offer the frame for the main part of story. It is fascinating to see the big contrast in the Japanese culture in modern Tokio and the older Japanese traditions at "Fuji San" as the old man - after his wife has died - makes up a visit to Japan, to fulfill the wishes of his wife. Remarkable was, that after the end of the film the whole audience silently waited till the name part and the last note of the film music was finished. They also were very impressed.

As the reviews I had read before watching the film were rather mixed, I did not expect too much, but I was really touched by the story.

Trudi learns that her husband is fatally ill and may die soon. Therefore she convinces him to visit their children in Berlin, who, of course, are rather underwhelmed by this parental invasion. The parents move on to spend a few days at the Baltic Sea where - out of the blue - Trudi dies. Her husband Rudi realizes that he did not really know his wife or take her dreams and interests seriously.

As Trudi was very much interested in Butoh dance, Rudi decides to go to Japan and see their other son who lives there. He gets to know a young Butoh dancer who has lost her mother, and both decide to go to Mount Fuji together.

A film about dying and blaming yourself for being unkind to someone who has just died might sound depressing, and you can shed some tears while watching this film. Yet it is not a tearjerker, and it has very funny scenes too. The director of photography deserves an award for his artwork, and the duck hurrying around in a very important way is a running gag that just makes you laugh.

Definitely the most touching film I have seen in the past few months. Go and watch it - it's a must-see.

When her husband is diagnosed with a terminal illness, a German woman named Trudi decides it's time the both of them paid a long overdue visit to their adult children - two of whom live in Berlin and one in Japan. The catch is that the husband, Rudi, doesn't even know he's sick and neither do the kids. Thus, Trudi must live with this horrible secret while putting on a brave face for those around her. But then a different, wholly unforeseen tragedy strikes the family and the movie heads off into an entirely new and utterly unanticipated direction from where we thought it was going.

A German movie set largely in Japan, "Cherry Blossoms" is a beautiful and heartbreaking film about living for the moment and of not putting off till tomorrow what you can do today. It's also marvelously perceptive about the dynamics of parent/child relationships, especially when, as is true in this case, the parents are viewed by their self-absorbed offspring more as burdens to be endured than blessings to be cherished. The irony is that Rudi and Trudi have more in common with - and indeed are treated better by - many of the strangers and casual acquaintances they come in contact with than they are by their own children.

But the movie is also an examination of marriage and of how partners can become so entwined with one another as a couple that they lose their identities as individuals, missing out on the dreams and goals they had for their lives when they were still young and unattached. This is certainly the case for Trudi, who has harbored a lifelong desire to take up Japanese dancing, a desire that Rudi, in his selfish indifference, has pretty much squelched in her for the duration of their marriage. Such a realization of lost opportunities can lead to regrets, recriminations and despair at the end of the road, yet in the case of Rudi and Trudi, one learns that lesson a little too late - and the other just in the nick of time.

Elmer Wepper and Hannelore Elsner are magnificent as the aged couple, superbly capturing the deep-seated but often unspoken love that each spouse has for the other. A fine supporting cast, led by Maximilian Bruckner as one of their sons and Aya Irizuki as a young street artist who befriends Rudi in his time of greatest need, adds to the movie's richness. Another crucial element in the emotional force of the movie is the richly elegiac score by Claus Bantzer.

The glory of this exquisitely realized and profoundly moving film is its willingness to grapple with some truly major issues - of life and death, of sorrow and loss, of filial and marital relationships - without getting heavy-handed and preachy about it in the process. Every moment in this film feels real and unforced, yet the movie itself has the minutely worked-out grace and precision of Japanese performance art (which we see quite a bit of throughout the course of the film). In fact, near the end, there is a fantasy dance sequence that is, quite frankly, one of the most utterly spellbinding scenes I've come across in ages.

Masterfully directed by Doris Dorrie, "Cherry Blossoms" is a lyrical and unforgettable work that takes its place among the truly outstanding films of recent times.

“It's merely a movie.” Yeah. Well, whenever did you see one that had every character's play connect; comprehending intuitively their wars waging within. Between the sense of responsibility, of guilt, sweet memories, shame and nagging doubts. Not of one character, but of every single one. And then not because the lines, expressions and glances are simple, the characters sparse, or the dialogues overly explicit. No. Only because every single one is a mirror of your own, if not now than those that'll (hopefully?) be experienced in the future. Their fights aren't theirs alone; they are ours too. All painfully accurate, and so incorrigibly human.

To watch sheer Love gathering momentum before and after they ... nothing less than apotheosis of overwhelming feeling, an epitome of emotion that was so unattainably beautiful; death's but a trifle after this.

I'd rate it one star ... for every time I cried (or could have, ought to and didn't), yet the scale doesn't reach that high.

I think it was for me a sublime movie experience. I tells about many things: lack of communication between generations, the passing of life and the necessity to cherish it while it lasts, the cultural differences and similarities between Germany and Japan. It also describes how we often do not know well even those closest to us. In the beginning the old couple seems so boring, one-sided and uninvolving, boy does it change as the film unravels. The film is very well written, directed and acted. Also one of the best, wholest descriptions of the current life in Japan I ever saw on celluloide. I loved the character of the young girl in Japan, her wonderful, delicate dignity in the face of the horrors of her lonely life. The man entered her life by coincidence and changed it for the better, maybe saving her from getting crazy or raped, or even killed.

Doris Dörrie's "Cherry Blossoms" - opening "Berlin and Beyond" Thursday, in U.S. release on Friday - has two original titles, one in German: "Kirschblüten," which means cherry blossoms, and another in Japanese: "Hanami," which doesn't.

The Japanese equivalent to the English and German titles would be "sakura"; "hanami" is a national ceremony/celebration/holiday of WATCHING the blossoms open. Dating back to the 8th century, hanami is an event without parallel outside Japan.

The difference between the titles is a subtle, but meaningful message. Just as the blossoms in themselves are different from the veritable cult surrounding them in Japan, Dörrie's characters live in two different worlds, acting differently, first clashing (similarly to "Lost in Translation") and then - somewhat mysteriously - cohere. With this complex, effective, and moving story, Dörrie, who has spent more than three decades writing and directing "interesting and different" films of varying quality, has reached a pinnacle of her career. (She owes a debt of gratitude to Yasujiro Ozu, especially his "Tokyo Story.")

"Germans and Japanese," Dörrie has said, "are really very much alike — incredibly repressed and very irrational at the same time." This vague and rather ridiculous generalization actually seems to come to life in "Cherry Blossoms."

One of Germany's best-known TV stars, Elmar Wepper, appears in his first movie role, and he nails the character of Rudi Angermeier, a cartoonishly ordinary man on an extraordinary journey. Unknown to him, he is near the end of his life, as he slowly, believably emerges from a stolid German middle-class life of unvariable routine to traverse distance and radically different cultures, all the way to Mount Fuji, dancing butoh.

There are two remarkable co-stars along Rudi's adventure: his wife, Trudi, played by the glamorous actress Hannelore Elsner, appearing heroically unglamorous here to fit the role of a plain housefrau; and Aya Irizuki as Yu.

Yu is one of those rare cinematic creations, a character you may not understand, but one who will stay with you. This waif, runaway, street artist is as bizarre a representative of Japan as - going back to "Lost in Translation" again - Bill Murray's Premium Fantasy woman ("Rip my stockings!") and yet she also evokes Giulietta Masina's character in "La Strada," a couple of continents away.

Watching Rudi and Yu under the cherry blossoms, with the strangely elusive Mount Fuji in the background finally peeking out from behind the clouds, is among the more memorable scenes in contemporary cinema.

I will not say 'Cherry Bloosoms' perfectly flawless. The first half of the movie is a bit too plain, beautiful though. It is easy for audience to find traces of 'Tokyo Story' (Ozu's 1953 work) in the film. The filmmaker attempted a large amount of 'pillow shot'. Audience may feel like she was trying to replicate what Ozu did. It may not be a bad idea,especially young generation nowadays has not even spent a minute on watching old films like Ozu's work. But to me, 'Tokyo Story' is too perfect, and the movie I am talking now is not anywhere near it in the case when both of them are critiquing the relationship between parents and grown-up children.

Yet I did experience a sublime journey throughout the course of this beautiful film. What really moved me is the second half of the movie- its delicate description on 'mourning', on how a man copes with the mourning with all kinds of valuable memories of the dead. Beyond doubt the filmmaker did a great work on conveying the feeling of loss. The character'Yu' is impressive enough I still thought of her face that night after watching the movie. She is not the kind of girl with a beautiful face. We the audiences know nearly nothing about the character, but she really hit my heart in a deep way. She is lonely and sad, easily grabs the heart of audiences.Thanks to the soundtrack also. The film is soft, slow, sad, but at the same time it taught me a lesson. To treasure every single person besides me, and to pursue what really matters to me, as can life be ever predicted.

A German director Doris Dorrie's third film in her trilogy on Japan, Cherry Blossoms, is an exquisite, absorbing and deeply moving meditation on life, death, loss, loneliness and grief.

Talking about old parents with alienated and indifferent descendants, the first half of the film may remind the audience of Yasujiro Ozu's film made in 1953, Tokyo Monogatari. The six hugging-or-massage (by family members and strangers) scenes and the father's harmonious relationships with his daughter's girlfriend and a Japanese girl successfully highlight the poor relationship between the father and his children.

The second half in which the main character embarks on a reflective journey in search of traces of the deceased love captures the mood of Lost in Translation and Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. The cultural shock experienced also makes the film distinguishable from Under the Sand.

Cherry blossoms and Mount Fuji symbolize the fleeting and unpredictable nature of life. The film delivers a message that we should treasure the people around us, pursue our dreams and enjoy life to the full so that we will have no regrets. Besides, it is also about the main character's inability to communicate with not only the dead, but also the living family members. Butoh, a Japanese dance, helps people to feel and establish connections with others. What's more, the audience can pay attention to the symbolic meaning of the drawings at the beginning of the film and the photos at the end.

The cinematographer and the composer also succeed in evoking different tones from several shooting locations in Germany and Japan. The suburbs contrast sharply with the hustle and bustle of city life. Apart from the poetic and stunning visual images and the Japanese music playing upon the audience's heartstrings, the characters are so lifelike that the audience will care about what happen to them.

On the whole, although Cherry Blossoms is a bit too long, without emotional bludgeoning or syrupy manipulation, it is a little road movie producing emotional resonance and reflective ripples in a whisper.

What a beautiful movie! At the beginning I was especially surprised by the good script, just to see the main characters talk just like real people talk and not like movie characters talk. Yes, an unannounced visit by the parents can result in sometimes boring sometimes funny table conversations and here it's all so authentic somehow.

As the story unfolds the movie more and more reminded me of "About Schmidt "and "Lost in Translation". There's a little culture clash Rudi experiences in Japan, but that's not the main focus of the movie and yes, there are similarities to "About Schmidt" as it is sometimes funny and mostly touching to see Rudi deal with the death of his wife and the fact that his life is so different now. However compared to "About Schmidt" this movie goes a lot deeper, has more poetry and more philosophy.

The speed of the story is rather slow as too much speed would have destroyed the poetry inside the movie. The cinematography is astounding, but does not waste beautiful images for cheap emotions. Watching the movie was a great experience, so real, yet magic and so touching! I only gave it 9*/10* as I hardly ever give 10*

=== WARNING: Some Spoilers ahead ===

I particularly enjoyed watching the relationship between Rudi and Yu, such a terrific friendship between a man and a woman of so different ages and cultural backgrounds. Many other movies would have made a love story out of this friendship between a middle-class German senior citizen and a poor 18-year old Japanese girl living in a tent in a public park. Other movies would have depicted a kiss at least. Not here: I definitely liked watching this intense and deep friendship evolve. A rare thing to see in a movie these days. Don't get me wrong, I also like love stories and enjoyed Harry and Sally, but seeing how Rudi deals with the death of his wife and Yu with the death of her mother is great - it brings the two together on a very personal level, where consolation means a lot and where sexual love would have destroyed a lot, so I'm glad that Doris Dörrie resisted the temptation to make them a couple.

I can't begin to describe how much this film moved me. After nearly losing my spouse, best friend and soul mate, I could relate to the crushing emotions of both Trudi and Rudi. Life stands still when you're faced with the realization of living without that person.

In 2009 my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and it crushed me. The way Trudi tried to hide her tears, how she couldn't sleep or eat, and her painful realization that each moment with him might be the last were things I experienced firsthand. I can't imagine the added of burden of trying to keep it from him and act as if nothing were wrong. I failed miserably as a strong, supportive caretaker.

Many of the things Rudi went through were similar to what I imagined my life would become if he didn't make it. One of the things that really struck me was the portrayal of how seemingly mundane, everyday events become vivid and painful reminders of what was and what you desperately wish you still had.

A beautiful movie, a work of art.

Discovering the essence of the companion, family, friends and others is the challenge posed by the story.

The movie takes you to geographical places you might never been before, as well as into your inside and your persona.

Great to reflect while feeling lost in both places and enjoying a work of art.

You will go as far away as Tokyo and as deep inside as your more basic understanding of human beings.

The unit of the story is a family at a moment of crises.

Some may see this story as a sequence of complains. But it can also be seen as stepping stones in the road to happiness.

It stresses the relevance of how taking good care of ourselves is the beginning of taking others feelings into consideration.

Some might have the feeling of not having a complete set of tools to approximate of understanding others essence, and feel compelled to change and develop them.

In syntheses the play depicts the sharp contrast in the two faces of the coin of life the one that gets engulfed by routine and the one that consciously chose to live on the other side seeking truth in the road of simplicity.

As the story opens, we meet Rudi and Trudi, an older couple living in Bavaria. He is stoic and undemonstrative, but they have a comfortable, familiar relationship. Rudy is content to go to his dull job everyday while Trudi harbors a secret wish to see Japan and the cherry blossoms. When she learns that he is dying, she arranges a trip to visit their children, but the kids are too busy to be bothered with them.

This is a remarkable film about life and death and love. It moves quite slowly and gently and allows us to get to know the couple and their self-absorbed children. It deals with devotion and fulfilling one's dream and gave me a lot to think about. The story moves from Germany to Japan and is in German with English subtitles and much spoken English in the second half.

The DVD cover calls this movie, "sublime," and I agree. If you've experienced love and loss, this movie will touch you deeply. Highly recommended.

This movie was deeply touching. It is a movie about how a man copes with mourning, about the impermanence of being and the permanence of memories, still very funny in places, and often very tender. Equal amounts of laughter and nose-blowing in the audience, an audience which was very silent and in thought in the end of the movie. I appreciated: the great acting in this very well-cast movie, with outstanding Elmar Wepper and Hannelore Elsner but including the very fitting supporting cast - the artful to-the-point wording - the quiet yet well-timed pace of scenes and shots - how very well the movie conveyed the feeling of loss - the use of background scenes that carry meaning which unobtrusively reflects the foreground action (e.g. marching duck, sand castles washed away, fly trapped by window glass without being aware of it etc.) - the contrast of the inner search of a man for happiness leading him to consequential, necessary and healing actions that are being perceived as ridiculous or crazy by outsiders who do not share his perspective. I was shocked to some extent by a funeral scene near the end of the movie. 1 point off for some slight lengths in the middle of the movie - but then weren't these lengths somehow fitting as the main character had just then reached a dead end in his life?

The life that people live here around, has a lot to do with the following verses of a famous and beautiful poem by Louis Aragon.

"Noting is taken for granted to man. Neither his strength Neither his weakness neither his heart. And when he believes that he opens his arms, his shadow has the shape of a cross. And when he believes that he seized his happiness, he smashes it. His life is a strange and a painful divorce.

There is no happy love"

Note particularly: "His life is a strange and painful divorce"

While Trudi was alive, Rudi made no effort to "bring his soul close to hers" (I do not know how to say it otherwise), I mean they were married, loved each other, were faithful, but "their souls were not married."

After Trudi dies, Rudi realizes this, and is desolate.

He finds a way to "help souls to get close to each other" through a fortuitous encounter with a girl who is a street performer. This girl has more of an angel than someone of flesh and blood, because during the relationship with Rudi, completely free from any interest - she is a homeless, living under a tarp in a public garden, and is apparently alone in the world - she gives to Rudi, as a present, the art of dancing with the shadows, with the ephemeral and with people who are no longer among the people alive. In other words, she gave to Rudi, for free, a key which may help Trudi to rediscover and "save his soul."

Imagine, to find an angel in the midst of the madness that is the life in Tokyo!

On the other hand, Trudi loved Butoh but could never practice it, because of the total disinterest of Rudi and this was certainly one of the sorrows that she carried with her when she died.

Rudi takes that key and succeed to meet Trudi in some ineffable dimension, where she is now.

The film is really beautiful. Everything and everybody are perfect. It made me weep a lot because of the atmosphere of "painful divorce" in which plunged the life of Rudi and Trudi, and because of the beauty of Rudi's relationship with the angel of Butoh.

I saw this movie at my local video store and I didn't know anything about it, only rented it because I like cherry blossoms (Don't ask why, I really rented because of the name of the movie). At first I thought the movie was Japanese but when I found out it was German I was kind of surprised and pleased because I like German films. All I can say this movie is extremely melancholic, it deals with grief, and a guilty husband who didn't fulfill his wife's last wish. The scenery, both in Germany and Japan is beautiful. The story moved me, I was sad when the movie ended, and left me with kind of an emptiness, it made me feel like you're alone in the world and I kind of hated the poor man.

this was a very unexpected surprise tonight on Sunday night TV here on SBS Australia. I started watching it knowing nothing about it, but liking the quiet observational style. At the first ad-break I checked the IMDb rating, and decided it must be worth watching. Well it certainly was. Beautifully gentle and sad as well. This movie had it all - the beautiful Bavarian countryside, then a bit of Berlin with the somewhat uncomfortable children having to put up with the sudden visit of their parents, for why (only the mother knew). Then to the Baltic Sea, where against all expectations mother leaves the film and father must continue on. Then against all his normal routine Dad goes off to visit 'favourite son' who works in Tokyo. As Tokyo is one of my favourite cities to visit this was wonderful to see the daily routine of the city on film. And yes homeless people do live under canvas in Ueno Park because I have seen them - I was quite shocked when I realised what all those blue tarpaulins/tents were for. The film ends in Hakone/Mt Fuji. And there was the only disappointing note in this beautifully observed film. Yes Mr Fuji-san is shy - (spoiler alert) but surely if he was dancing for/with his wife as her last wish he would be FACING Mt Fuji not away from it? (sad truth that the camera could not be in 2 places at once though). That minor point aside, I loved this. Not having been influenced by what others have written, I will now read some of them!

(2nd time around - Aug.11) Happened to see (most of) this on TV again last without initially realising what it was, namely that I had already seen it. It was just as pleasing the second time around. It has such a gentle touch this movie and it is simply and emotionally charming in a distinctive way. Rudi does not have to say much at all for us to sympathise with his situation and the actor does this so well. The butoh girl is such an interesting and charming ingenue sort of contrast - the relationship with Rudi could have been somewhat creepy but it seems quite natural the way it develops. My own intersections with places in Tokyo/Hakone also give this film a personal resonance which heighten the experience of watching it.

(Spoilers) The first scene has Trudi in a doctor's office being informed that her husband Rudi, in his 60s, has a terminal illness, but he will probably be symptom free for some indeterminate amount of time. After I accepted this rather artificial setup, I found the rest of the story effective. The doctors suggest to Trudi that perhaps an adventure be taken, to which Trudi responds, "My husband hates adventures. He would prefer it if nothing changed, ever." Indeed Rudi is presented as a regimented, but not altogether unlikable, man. Trudi convinces him to visit a couple of their children in Berlin, but that visit is awkward. The kids don't know what to do with the parents and Trudi sums things up with, "I don't know them any more."

While in Berlin Trudi goes to see a Butoh dancing performance (while Rudi waits outside). That scene is wonderfully filmed and, seeing Trudi's obvious appreciation for the dance, we see that Rudi has ignored and dampened some of Trudi's most powerful passions, not out of malice, but just for lack of trying.

There is a favored son, Karl, who lives in Tokyo and Trudi has always wanted to go to Japan for a visit and to realize her dream of seeing Mount Fuji. More evidence of Rudi's repressive influence is that the trip to Japan has never materialized (if you have seen one mountain you have seen them all is his philosophy).

An unexpected plot twist has Trudi dying before Rudi. Oddly, the person most sympathetic to Rudi's plight is his daughter's lesbian lover Franzi. In a conversation with her Rudi comes to understand things about his wife, like her passion to become a Butoh dancer. During the course of this conversation Rudi sees just how remiss he has been by not making any significant attempt to understand his wife. A comment that brought Rudi up short was Franzi's saying that maybe there was another person inside Trudi that nobody ever saw. Not something a man wants to hear about his spouse.

In a trip that is part atonement, part self discovery, part adventure, and part attempt to understand and commune with his dead wife, Rudi goes to Tokyo where he stays with his son. The visit with Karl goes badly, with Karl landing some brutal verbal blows. But, in contrast to the harsh family dynamics, Rudi encounters a young street Butoh dancer and the friendship that develops between them among the cherry blossoms is pure poetry and leads to an emotionally powerful ending.

The mini travelogue of Tokyo is nicely done, as is the delicate score.

This is the film Sofia Coppola could only dream of making, a far more sophisticated and sensitive LOST IN TRANSLATION. Dorie's visual cues play out beautifully throughout her film as the narrative unfolds. Her dedication toward representing the Japanese in a much more respectful and flattering light allows her character transcend cultural barriers and lose himself in the beauty of Japan. At first, one would question yet another film where a man goes to an adult bar in Tokyo, but outside all of the "strangeness" he initially perceives, the film ends up taking an intelligent and poetic turn. What at first seems to be more like TOKYO STORY builds into a meditation on mourning and transformation. Cultural differences provide an opportunity for finding understanding, something Coppola completely seemed to be incapable of. The young Japanese dancer in the film is charming. Through her, this encounter becomes more than a fling through the city, but an opportunity to come to terms with life and death.

This is a beautiful film exploring the contrast of day to day existence with glimpses of the eternal. The death of Trudi gives Rudi an opportunity to learn more about his wife, learn things he wouldn't have known were it not for her death. Not yet able to let her go, Rudi accompanies Trudi's spirit to Japan, to be with her and the things she loved. In spending time with both, he quickly fills the emptiness left by her death.

Through Butoh, he is slowly able to let go, by hanging on only gently. The Cherry Blossoms represent the impermanence of things, the loss of loved ones, the meeting of strangers...all stops along an ephemeral world. Mount Fuji, shy, yet mighty, represents the eternal. A contrast of the letting go, and holding on in memory. Even the things we thought we knew, our way of life, our children, our spouse, ourselves.... they may one day be strangers to us..but changing...may one day be again known.

I am giving this movie a five out of 10 because of the settings and the photography. Also the originality of the script. I do realize that others have said this is a remake of a Japanese film but since I am not familiar with that this is new to me.

Many on the message boards have commented on the coldness of the grown children to the parents. But they must not have listened to the children's side of the story. How the mother had been consumed with deferring to the father who did think the small world of his family should revolve around him. I found the father/husband the least sympathetic character. Maybe I do not like the actor but he did not seem visibly distressed by the unexpected death of his wife.

The films most likable characters were the lesbian partner of the daughter and the street performer who befriends the father. The partner observes that she sees someone inside the mother that her family can not see. This is a rare gift and probably this woman sees the "inside" person in many people. The Japanese girl also had a rare gentility and generosity that could not have been better expressed, even if in my opinion, to a somewhat undeserving person. The film never says (and no one on the message board asked) if she was allowed to keep the money Rudi gave her. But I wished that was so. My absolute favorite scenes were those in the vacation place near Mt. Fuji. I loved everything about them, makes me almost wish I could visit Japan to see them. However living in Tokyo would certainly not appeal.

The most inexplicable character was that of the mother. She had the heart and soul of an artist and she completely subjugated it to serving a not very interesting husband. I am roughly her age (if not older) and her subservience to him was unpleasant. Actually also to her children. She seemed to have no ego in relationship to the nearest people to her but the film never presents a reason that should be so.

This movie has caused considerable misunderstandings - both concerning the use of a Japanese term in the title as well as the Japanese signs shown in the movie. Let me say that this film is about the cross-cultural relevance of Japanese traditions for a fairly simply-minded Bavarian couple. She could never fulfill her dream to become a Japanese shadow-dancer and he did not realize that their homely harmony was merely a facade. After his wife's death, the man is told by his son that he did not know who his wife was.

She had a dream to see the Fudjiyama, but although her husband is diagnosed terminally ill, she passes away six months before him. He does not know his disease. Crowded with guilt he decides to fulfill his wife's dream. He puts on her clothes under his owns and flies to Tokyo where his son lives. Because the welcome is rather frosty and the staying together problematic, he meets an 18 years old girl who understands that he is traveling with his wife on his body and determined to show her the beloved Fudjiyama.

A very long time ago, people invented signs merely for the sake of communicating absent, far or abstract objects. The signs should substitute the objects by representing them. If people needed the objects, they could stick to them and just let the signs aside. However, what should they do when the original objects are gone? Then, there is the memory in the heads, the memory also consists of signs, but they are dissipating and fragile. So, the yearning for the objects behind the signs was coming up. Was there a kind of magic who would transform the picture of a person into the real person? On the idea that the clothes that have touched the body of a saint, are holy signs, the whole relic-system of the Catholic church is built. People travel around the world to visit the places where famous persons lived - as if their "ghost" would still house in their ancient apartments. People believe in the traces that beloved people left, because when the people are gone, this is all that is left. That the man decides to put on the clothes of his passed wife, has a nice parallel in many languages where the clothes that are most closely to the body are called "little body" like German "Leibchen" for "Leib" (body). The bra that held once a part of the wife's body possibly still holds her scent, so a part of her must still be present in this bra, and although the bra is only a sign for her, this is the ultimate approximation that her husband can reach towards her after she has been gone.

Doris Dorrie,in the past ten (or so)years has matured into a fine film maker & story teller. She first gained fame in the United States with her breezy comedy, 'Men'. After falling on her face with her first English language outing, 'Me & Him', she re-pooled her talents & moved on to write & direct (and sometimes produce)some mighty fine film fare. In the past ten years, she has added a realm of eastern philosophy in her work. 'Cherry Blossoms'(or as it is being marketed in Europe as 'Kirschbluten-Hanami')is a meditation on old age and redemption. An elderly couple visit their adult children in Berlin,only to find that they're strangers in their eyes. The wife, Trudi has always wanted to travel to Japan to see Mt.Fuji & study Butoh dancing (basically,Japan's answer to the mime). Rudi (her husband) couldn't be bothered. When Trudi dies unexpectedly, he is stricken with guilt that he should not have been such a selfish bastard to his wife,and decides to travel to Japan to make amends to Trudi's kindred spirit. While in Japan,Rudi strikes up a friendship with a homeless Butoh performance artist living in a park. What follows is a true odyssey of the soul. This is a beautifully written,directed and played out drama that will touch your heart & perhaps even cause one to re-think of the relationship with one's own parents. Spoken in German & Japanese with English subtitles. Not rated by the MPAA,this film serves up a bit of rough language & some full frontal female nudity during a bath house sequence. Not a good choice for very young eyes.

A very sentimental film about eternal love. After the unexpected loss of his wife while on vacations to the Baltic sea, Rudi goes to Japan to escape from his sadness, to his son's house Karl, in Tokyo. Days pass with the memories of his beloved wife Trudi, but also exploring the big city. Lost in the lights of skyscrapers at night, at day staying most of the time in the small apartment, occupied by simple housekeeping, life seems so unbearable for the lost in the bitter shadows of memories husband, until one day at the park with the blossomed cherries, he meets Yu - a young girl playing pantomime. Impressed by her slow and ritual movements, he goes closer to her and they soon become friends. But this was not to last. In a journey to mount Fuji, waiting for the mountain to be revealed to them every morning, when opening the window, days where passing. This reveal was to happen at his last day - to see the mountain with it's snowy pick. He then, moves closer to the lake, where the majestic mountain was reflected and then came to his eyes the image of himself dancing the ritual movements of the Japanese dance (Butoh) with his wife - together and forever. And immediately then, came the moment to die, by the side of the lake. A very touching film of the eternal love, but also a really true study of the contemporary way of living, which can not offer the real essence of life, to human beings. Between loss, sorrow, the lights and furor of a big city, the company of his somehow distant son - absent all day to his work, the salvation of the soul of the unlucky widower, came by the Japanese girl, dancing with the movements of the human body shadows - which means the movements of the inner unsatisfied, waiting for salvation soul. All active elements of the movie especially direction, cinematography, acting photography, music, filming locations, contributed to a very satisfying evolution of the plot above.