Sweet Bean
Kino Lorber | Release Date: March 18, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 18, 2016
It’s a delicate little fable that creeps up on you. It seems slight at first, but it’s held together by a performance from the veteran actress Kirin Kiki, playing an older lady who makes supernal dorayakis, that cuts very deep. Read full review
90
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMar 17, 2016
The movie, beautifully shot and acted, earns its ultimate sense of hope by confronting real heartbreak head-on, and with compassion. Read full review
83
The Film StageZhuo-Ning SuFeb 25, 2016
A well-crafted mainstream effort with accessible emotions and that whiff of Kawase-que zen. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMar 17, 2016
At first the stakes are as light yet rich as Sentaro's pancakes; then come marvelous cine-essays on bean-soaking and paste-prepping, plus — in the film's tragedy-tinged final third — a change-of-seasons montage for the ages. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonApr 7, 2016
Kawase handles the material delicately and skillfully, and Kirin — a one-time ingenue actress whose first important film was in one of the early “Tora-san” movies — hits all the right notes. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenApr 9, 2016
Its sentimentality is tempered by the elegant restraint of the fine lead performances. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid ParkinsonAug 3, 2016
Ostensibly, a lovingly made study of homemade cooking and old-fashioned values, this beautifully played drama also contains a mordant denunciation of the lack of compassion that shapes Japanese attitudes to social stigma. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternApr 7, 2016
Ms. Kawase’s sweet, slow film — very slow, I’m obliged to say — becomes a meditation on solitary lives lived at the margins of society; on old age, and on the urgency of telling our stories, which may sometimes include recipes. Read full review
60
VarietyGuy LodgeFeb 25, 2016
Just as An itself seems on the verge of flying away, however, Kawase rewards her audience with an unapologetically contrived but effectively eye-moistening surge of feeling. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleFeb 25, 2016
Sweet Red Bean Paste is a modest film which seeks profundity in the detail of life. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMar 17, 2016
What makes this film more potentially enticing to Westerners than the seven films that preceded it? Two words: food porn. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungFeb 25, 2016
Director Naomi Kawase’s adaptation of Durian Sukegawa’s novel An aims so low that it makes good on its modest ambitions. Read full review
50
Screen DailyDan FainaruFeb 25, 2016
The clichés start to arrive in rapid succession. Even the most moving performances cannot disguise their obviousness. Read full review
42
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonFeb 25, 2016
Unfortunately, it proves to be as disposable as the snack it revolves around. Read full review
42
IndieWireAdam CookFeb 25, 2016
The movie is not without some small pleasures...but neither character is developed beyond broad characteristics, in spite of them occupying 95% of the film's taxing two-hour running time. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 25, 2016
The film has an impeccable technical finish, but it is insipid, contrived, solemn, and ever so slightly preposterous. Read full review
More From This Movie

60 Critic Reviews

7.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL