I rarely watch movies that I am really touched by anymore, but I watched this Japanese movie from 2002, Oriume, and I thought it was beautiful and I wanted to share. (Terribly sorry about the horrendous picture quality, but it was all I could find online.)

The movie is about an elderly Japanese woman who moves in with her sons family so they can take care of her, as her Alzheimer’s progresses. It shows so many different aspects of Japanese family life, how the wife works part time and is the only one taking care of the house and the family, how the husband is overworked but under-involved with his own family, how Japanese people feel that they should take care of their elders and the shame and guilt connected to sending someone off to a nursing home. The movie is everything that Japanese film can be at its best. Slow, with time to think and time to be moved. I rarely feel that Japanese actors and actresses really do a world-class job, but this movie is both well directed and shows good acting.

Unfortunately, it is not available on Netflix or Youtube or anywhere else I could find on the internet with English subtitles. I think it is possible to order the movie with English subtitles from Amazon though. The only trailer I could find was one with Korean subtitles, since the movie was released in South Korea in 2011. If you know Japanese/Korean, I think it is possible to watch the movie here on this Chinese site.

Here is the trailer for the movie, in Japanese, with Korean subtitles: