I blame this movie for keeping me from doing reviews for a long time. I wanted to review it so badly, but I could never figure out how to describe it. It seems like a simple story about a typical Japanese family. The family has one rule, no one keeps secrets from each other. They are very open about many things but this openness is more of a face to hide their deeper secrets and inner demons.

For a while, the only thing I could come up with for the review of Hanging Garden was "Words cannot describe how much I like this movie. KTHXBAI!" Sadly, I did not think that would be much of a review. So, here's my attempt to use the words that "cannot describe" to describe this movie.

The Kyobashi family seems like a normal family. They have a rule, no one keeps secrets, which seems simple enough. When the daughter asks about how she was made, the father and mother have no problem telling her. They even tell her what hotel it was. The more you watch, the more you realize that the secrets they tell just hides the secrets they don't tell more. The father cheats on his wife because she never has sex with him, the daughter skips school and tries to have sex with guys in the hotel she was conceived at, and the son... does some stuff... not particularly bad... oh well. Although each family member have a significant part in Hanging Garden, it focuses on the mother, Eriko, the most. Eriko has many internal demons and issues that she tries to ignore day by day, but it just gets worse. She is a very interesting character, and I can't help but identify with her.

Hanging Garden, while having a simple front, is complicated and unique. I was sucked in with the amount of emotional and character dept there was. Though the mother was the character the movie mainly focuses on, it still dives into the minds of every family member. The way the family converses with each other has a strange awkwardness to it. It feels like the relationships are completely fake and natural at the same time. Later on in the movie there is this dinner scene that they say whatever on their mind, but it doesn't seem to phase anyone. The entire scene felt so awkward to outsiders, but it just seems natural to them (that or they play along very easily).

The more you watch the movie, the more peaks into these characters personalities you get. It's like slowly more and more doors open into these characters minds. Hanging Garden doesn't really have much of a plot, but just flows nicely along this family's every day life, getting more and more complicated as the movie progresses. I didn't know how the movie was going to end, as it seemed to be leading to a climax but I couldn't quite tell. It just flowed throughout these peoples lives without a distinct plot (not a bad thing at all) but when it climaxed... it climaxed, and very powerfully. When the ending came I was in tears.

The entire movie was wonderfully directed. The whole film is based off of the "rootlessness" of Japanese society, hence the name, hanging plants cannot extend their roots to the soil. The camera adds to this theme in some scenes where it slowly rotates or "swings". Sadly I can see the camera turning a few people off, as it can make you a little dizzy at times. I'm not for sure how people with vertigo problems will handle it. Also, you probably wouldn't want to watch this movie drunk (it's not a drinking movie anyway). The score fits the movie perfectly. It's not too much, but it's still there when needed.

Every single person in this movie did a wonderful job. They were all perfect and seemed more like the characters themselves than actors. I really liked the Grandmother, and wished there were more scenes with her in it. She was very quirky and sassy. The mother was by far my favorite character, and the actress (Kyôko Koizumi) was wonderful. So many emotions, so many of her thoughts just poured out of her face and body language. She really looked like a troubled woman with so many issues and problems she didn't know what to do with them.

I cannot recommend "Hanging Garden" enough. It's sad that there's no American release yet, because many people won't be able to see this gem. I really do not know how to describe it any further. I absolutely loved it! I cannot truly pinpoint what I liked about it. It just stuck with me and left an impression, and that's what is important.

Favorite Scenes:
~The Climax. I've watched this movie 5 times, and every time I'm just waiting for when it hits.
~The awkward dinner scene (or the last dinner scene). I don't know why I liked it so much, because it was pretty damn awkward. It was just very interesting how it was done. You really didn't know what anyone was going to say next.

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