Cherry Blossoms
Strand Releasing | Release Date: January 16, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A stunning reminder of the omnipresence of mortality. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Throughout the film there are small, rapturous moments. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah Young
Doerrie goes beyond the "Lost in Translation" jokes about East-West culture clashes to communicate something meaningful and deep about Japanese art and thought. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Unpredictable and compelling, this draws parallels between Japanese and German cultures in interesting and moving ways. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyAdam Markovitz
There's a grace to it all, and moments of oddball poetry. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Both austere and garish, simultaneously dry and sentimental, tightly repressed and extravagantly expressive, bourgeois and bohemian. It's a seesaw, but Dorrie finds the balance. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
The movie is an ideal blend of character study, deceptively simple plot twists, inspired acting, and travelogue. Read full review
70
VarietyEddie Cockrell
A successful novelist whose films bear the expansive plotting and telling character detail of the page, Doerrie never seems in any particular hurry to tell her tales, preferring the journey to the destination. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Thanks to an accomplished cast, anchored by Elsner and Wepper, and observant filmmakers, very little in Cherry Blossoms is lost in translation. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
There's something a little shallow about contrasting ungrateful German kids with their respectful Japanese counterparts and presuming the cultural differences are so cut-and-dried. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It's a strained but heartfelt work of muted sentimentality, obvious in its symbolism but grounded in a sense of life's preciousness and brevity. Depending on your mood and indulgence, you may weep or you may be left out in the cold. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Refusing to be rushed, Doris Dörrie blends individual experiences with universal emotions to create a quietly moving study of self-discovery. Read full review
50
Village VoiceElla Taylor
The best I can say for Cherry Blossoms is that it's made with love; the worst, that it's been a big hit in Germany. Yearning for Ozu, Dörrie stops off at cute, and parks. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
While Ms. Dörrie’s film is exquisitely shot, its themes and metaphors are obvious rather than subtle, and its emotional rhythms -- rueful laughter punctuating the pathos -- would not be out of place in a television drama. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. Musetto
At more than two hours, Cherry Blossoms could do with some pruning. And do husband and wife have to have rhyming names? Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The movie's conceits are just barely endurable, but the sharpness of Dörrie's eye--for Tokyo's electric night, for Fuji's iconographic landscapes, for cherry blossoms--sustains emotion even when story logic fails. Read full review
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