a review of 茶之味

I'd describe The taste of tea as the product of David Lynch and Hayao Miyazaki creating a script together while drinking sake as the last visitors of a dimly lit Japanese bar. The taste of tea is deliciously surreal and at times very comical, but it also reflects a poetic, timeless, Ghibli-like Japanese countryside melancholy, establishing a delicate portrait of transience by effectively making use of beautiful Japanese environment scenes as relativising interludes. There are a number of admirably original fantasy elements in The taste of tea, such as the giant version of the little girl. And last but not least, Anna Tsuchiya is mesmerizingly beautiful. The kind of girl every boy falls in love with, ending up with a broken heart. My only minor complaint is that the film would have been perfect if it was about half an hour shorter. But I definitely enjoyed The taste of tea.