is a 2004 Japanese

comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

written and directed by

Katsuhito Ishii is a Japanese film director best known for directing ''The Taste of Tea'' (2004), ''Funky Forest'' (2005), and ''Smuggler'' (2011). Career After graduating from Musashino Art University, Ishii got a job at Tohokushinsha Film and began direct ...

. Described as a "

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

" version of

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...

's ''

Fanny and Alexander ''Fanny and Alexander'' ( sv, Fanny och Alexander) is a 1982 period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The plot focuses on two siblings and their large family in Uppsala, Sweden during the first decade of the twentieth century. ...

'' (1982), it follows the daily lives of a family living in rural

Tochigi prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi). Tochigi ...

, north of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. It was a selection of the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

Synopsis

The film follows the lives of the Haruno family, who live in rural

Tochigi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi). Tochigi ...

, the countryside north of

. Nobuo is a hypnotherapist. He teaches Go to his son Hajime. Hajime becomes an excellent Go player, but he has a rough time with girls and puberty. Yoshiko refuses to be an average housewife and works on animated film projects at home. She uses assistance from grandfather Akira, an eccentric old man who is a former animator and occasional model. Eight-year-old Sachiko periodically sees a silent, giant-size double of herself which mimics or benignly watches her. She contemplates ways to rid herself of it. Uncle Ayano is a sound engineer and record producer who comes to stay for a visit. He engages in inward reflection, seeks closure regarding an old relationship, and recounts a childhood experience—a tale that influences Sachiko and ties into later events.

Cast

* Tomokazu Miura - Nobuo Haruno - father * Satomi Tezuka - Yoshiko Haruno - mother * Maya Banno - Sachiko Haruno - daughter * Takahiro Sato - Hajime Haruno - son * Tadanobu Asano - Ayano Haruno - uncle * Tatsuya Gashuin - Akira Todoroki - grandpa * Tomoko Nakajima - Akira Terako * Ikki Todoroki - Himself *

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon pr ...

- Aoi Suzuishi * Kenichi Matsuyama - Matsuken/The man in the red shirt *

Hideaki Anno is a Japanese animator, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for creating the anime series ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995)''.'' His style is defined by his postmodernist approach and the extensive portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotio ...

- Kasugabe *

Rinko Kikuchi (born ; January 6, 1981) is a Japanese actress. She was the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in 50 years, for her work in ''Babel'' (2006). Kikuchi's other notable films include '' Norwegian Wood'' (2010), which sc ...

- Yuriko Kikuchi *

Ryo Kase is a Japanese actor. Early life Kase was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture. He moved to Bellevue, Washington in the United States soon after his birth, due to his father's job being transferred. He's father Yutaka Kase was former chairman a ...

- Rokutaro Hamadayama *

Kenji Mizuhashi is a Japanese actor. He has appeared in more than 60 films since 1997. Selected filmography Film Television References External links * 1975 births Living people Japanese male film actors Japanese male television actors Male ...

- Maki Hoshino

Reception

''The Taste of Tea'' has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 77/100 weighted average on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. It was also one of

Ed Park Ed Park (born 1970 in Buffalo, New York) is an American journalist and novelist. He was the executive editor of Penguin Press. Career Park was a founding editor of the magazine '' The Believer'' in 2003, and has been an editor at the Poetry Found ...

's choices in the 2012 '' Sight & Sound'' critics' poll of the greatest films ever made.

Awards

*Audience Award - 2004, Entrevues Film Festival *Grand Prix - 2004, Entrevues Film Festival *Golden Maile Award (Best Feature Film) - 2004, Hawaii International Film Festival *Best New Actress (Anna Tsuchiya) - 2004,

Hochi Film Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Hochi Shimbun , previously known as , is a Japanese-language daily sports newspaper. In 2002, it had a circulation of a million copies a day. It is an affiliate newspaper of ''Yomiuri Shimbun''. ...

*Orient Express Award - 2004,

Festival de Cine de Sitges The Sitges Film Festival ( ca, Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, links=no) is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Spain, specialized in fantasy film, fantasy and horror films, of which it is considered one of the world ...

(Special Mention) *Audience Award - 2005, Dejima Japanese Film Festival *Best Asian Film - 2005,

Fant-Asia Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

*Fantasia Ground-Breaker Award - 2005, Fant-Asia Film Festival (3rd Place) *Audience Award - 2005, New York Asian Film Festival *Best New Actress (Anna Tsuchiya) - 2005

Kinema Junpo Awards , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

*New Talent Award (Anna Tsuchiya) - 2005, Mainichi Film Award *Festival Prize - 2005,

Yokohama Film Festival The is an annual awards ceremony held in Yokohama, Japan. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year and various awards are given to personnel. The first festival, held on February 3, 1980, was a small affair by fans and film critics. In 1994, ...

References

Sources

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taste of Tea, The 2004 films 2000s Japanese-language films Films directed by Katsuhito Ishii New People films Hypnotherapy 2000s Japanese films Films produced by Kazutoshi Wadakura