Our Little Sister (2015) – Review

In families which have children from different relationships the fact that these are people who come with some baggage from situations which were broken can sometimes lead to issues. It might be that one of the kids can’t get along with the others or doesn’t have a strong relationship with the step parent. It is also possible that there is friction between one of the parents and the ex. As the number of divorces increases, so does the number of these type of families. Our Little Sister takes a look at one of them.

The movie is set in Japan where three sisters are living together in the house of their parents. They haven’t talked to their mother, who lives in another town, in years and receive news that their father has passed away. He had left a while ago as well, remarried and had another daughter. Although the oldest sisters isn’t too enthusiastic in attending the funeral (she blames her father for her mother leaving), the three sisters decide to go. They meet their youngest (half) sister, Suzu, for the first time and decide to invite her to come live with them. She agrees and both her and the viewer get to know more about the sisters and the place they grew up.

 The word which I immediately thought of while watching this was that it is subtle. It is a joy to spend time with these four sisters which you slowly learn more about through their conversations. You know about their dreams and the issues they struggle with. Whether that’s the fact their mother left them or how one of the sisters deals with a married man she is seeing. It all has been shot without much flashiness, making the beauty of nature stand out. There is this one shot in which the youngest sister rides a bike together with a boy from school where they ride through a tunnel made out of cherry trees in bloom which is a beauty to behold. Our Little Sister is one of those movies you decide to watch on a lazy Sunday and experience the world of these four sisters for two hours.