I'm rating this FOUR stars, and it looks like many of my letterboxd friends are, as well. That's because we are cowards, afraid to admit that something this outrageously over the top and ultimately super feel good is deserving of a top honor. Sure, there's some cheese, but it's complex cheese—a very well thought out script with superb acting everywhere. You can tell everyone committed 100% to this thing and they should be rewarded for it. It made me want to cry so much I had to start laughing about it. Hana Sugisaki is the best below legal drinking age actress Japan has right now.

I don't know if this film is appropriate, or appropriately done; whether it's good, or bad, or ugly. But Rebecca Hall is scary good. Her performance is one of those where you feel like what's happening onscreen is really happening to the actor. No actor could manufacture the number of subtleties she projects.

I applaud Koreeda for exploring "nice". It's got to be one of the greater challenges a filmmaker faces.