Synopsis
Relatives gather from afar in wintery Ashibetsu upon the death of patriarch Mitsuo. A mysterious woman named Nobuko suddenly shows up. Her appearance gradually exposes wartime secrets and Mitsuo's unknown past.
Seven Weeks
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Theatrical
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Japan
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Japan
17 May 2014
- Theatrical
Popular reviews
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Journeys in Space and Time: Nobuhiko Ōbayashi
"Children of the future: learn from the past, for the future. The future is in your hands."
As originally with Ōbayashi's first Onomichi trilogy and Miss Lonely, I was forced to leave Maestro's greatest achievement – the War Trilogy – unfinished, due to Seven Weeks and its lack of subtitles. After the release of Labyrinth of Cinema some may say that the trilogy transformed into a quadrilogy, yet I would refute that: it would implicate a calculated end, and as we all know, the wizard had no end in sight in spite of all odds. Ōbayashi couldn't be taken away from cinema, thus Labyrinth of Cinema would have only marked the…
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The second film in the anti-war trilogy, seven weeks, is a very slow paced film about the death of 95-year-old mitsuo and his funeral.
The story takes place in modern japan and it's much more about the late effects of the war. Obayashi doesn't show pictures of battlefields, no people dying in battle and no explosions. He shows what a war can do to people and a country even after decades. He shows the consequences for the last generation that experienced the war and tries to guide the new generations on the path to peace.
Final Score : 85% 🍎 -
Another day, and yet another Ōbayashi film to discover. I, like many others, still haven't been able to truly describe what Seven Weeks means to me; it has left me utterly speechless. Once again, Ōbayashi drops almost all narrative focus. In a way, Obayashi's films has never been about the narrative - they've all been emotionally charged, with all focus on the stimulating the visual and auditory senses instead, like the beautiful surreal horror from Hausu or the incredible backdrops and soundtrack of Hanagatami, and in Seven Weeks, Ōbayashi charges on once again to try and answer the lingering questions of life and tame the destructive memories of war.
"With each death, there is a story."
Sometimes, it can be…
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Still just extremely difficult to wrap my head around, but I'm a lot more comfortable with that fact now. Having such extensive background experience with Ōbayashi's catalog has pretty undoubtedly helped me in that regard. I know that his primary thematic concerns lie in the passage of time, applying death to life as a means of progress, and the value of simply living life around those you love most - such themes are present in plenty of his films before and after this one. So, when narrative points get more abstract or the dialogue gets harder to follow, there's always some ground to stand on. This time around, for the most part, I just let it all soak in. I…
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My 24th Obayashi.
Wow. Speechless.
I've avoided Obayashi's late work for two reasons:
1. I don't want to be finished with his filmography;
2. They tend to overwhelm you with a lot of talking. And I'm not often in the mood to spend 2-3 hours speed reading subtitles while trying to absorb and interpret the images that are being shown.
On the other hand, this style (besides his worldview) is what I love about Obayashi and why I feel a kindred spirit with him (even if I am a much darker fellow).This one is another masterpiece (maybe a little too long, maybe not).
Phew, now I have to sleep first, I'm emotionally exhausted.I need more Obayashi in my life! -
The second film of Nobuhiko Obayashi's anti-war trilogy, Seven Weeks exemplifies his humanist tendencies in a manner that could only be traced back to Obayashi himself. Perhaps it's easy enough to describe Seven Weeks as the film that seemingly has the most conventional appearance of the three (especially when thinking back to the images present in Casting Blossoms to the Sky and Hanagatami), but there's still something beautiful to be found in the fact that he tones himself down to tell a story from the perspective of a family drama.
But I think even the seemingly conventional setting is what aids this film for the better, because Obayashi's erratic style feels like it's at its most subtle - to a…
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Japan Cuts 2015, Japan Society
Still unable to capture how deeply moved I was by this film. Far and away the most intensely stimulating film of the entire series. Obayashi continues to confront the elements that remain crucial to his work: the obsessive grip of memory, the transference of desire, the experimental nature of time as altered by experiences of war, love, and the approach of death.
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3rd flight watch - will digest this properly with an imminent rewatch of the trilogy once I finish. paused midway to bump hndrxx and the flight attendant said i gotta stop crying or the hoes might jump off
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Obayashi’s very experimental approach to filmmaking explores the difference between remembering those who have passed away and trying to embody their own experience as our own. Embodying the experiences of those who have past away help us realize what we lack and currently acknowledge is the strength of our current relationships. Obayashi’s fantastical approach to directing grounded and engaging conversations once again captures how our memories and the memories of those we know come together to create different methods of processing events we will or fear we will experience in life. Memories that take us into directions that allow us to meet those who will make us feel welcomed and grounded in a world full of uncertainty.
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like hanagatami, seven weeks feels like a promise that cinema will never end, that there will always be more beautiful and potent ways to express what seems to be otherwise inexpressible. obayashi explores grief and death (favorite themes for movies that wish they were "about something") with such power that entire cinematic movements are obliterated in a single stroke. masterpiece.
also, once you know what it's of, this poster is super fucked!
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70/100
Possibly impossible to talk about at all, there's so much going on during every moment of this I'm not sure how to parse through any of it, aside from my overwhelming emotional response to the last 90 minutes. What starts in a similar fashion to The Motive(a million different threads constantly stepping on one another), soon transitions to the hallmarks of his late-career anti-war work, dealing in indelible images and FEELINGS that seem to contain the entire universe, but here I can't quite explain why, which is the big question for me here: why? In every other Obayashi(at least of the top of my head), I'm readily able to understand my love and appreciation of the work, but here…