Our Little Sister

Hirokazu Koreeda’s Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary) is a beautifully tender and understated film that explores family, forgiveness, and quiet resilience. Unlike heavy melodramatic family dramas, Koreeda takes a naturalistic, almost meditative approach, allowing emotions to simmer beneath the surface rather than explode outright.

The film follows three sisters who take in their teenage half-sister after their estranged father’s death. What makes it so poignant is how it captures the complexity of familial bonds—not through grand conflicts but through everyday moments: cooking together, walking under cherry blossoms, sharing silent grief. The way the characters navigate their relationships, particularly their feelings toward the father who abandoned them, feels deeply human.

Koreeda excels at showing love in the small, unspoken gestures rather than dramatic dialogue. There’s a quiet melancholy in how each character carries emotional wounds, yet there’s also warmth in the way they slowly find healing through togetherness. The seaside town setting adds to this nostalgic, almost dreamlike feeling, making the film feel like a collection of precious memories.

Overall, Our Little Sister isn’t a film that overwhelms you with emotions all at once—it lingers, gently reshaping your thoughts about family, regret, and the beauty of small moments. It’s a film that doesn’t just tell a story but invites you to live with its characters for a while.

Do you enjoy Koreeda’s storytelling style, or do you prefer more emotionally intense narratives?