A must-see movie that “Nobody Knows” about

Nobody Knows delighted me, moved me, and challenged me.

Hirokazu Kore-eda, director of After Life, has accomplished something astonishing by filming a small cast of very young amateur actors over a long period of time, and drawing completely convincing performances out of each one. It’s hard to believe these four children aren’t a real family, and that they don’t really live by themselves in an increasingly filthy Tokyo apartment, waiting for their mother to return.

Young Yuya Yagira won the Best Actor award at Cannes for this, and I can see why. He takes us through a long journey of emotions and a whole encyclopedia of small, subtle, revealing moments. And he’s just a kid.

This is one of 2005’s must-sees. (Technically, it first screened at festivals in 2004, but it’s only reaching a wide U.S. audience now.) It opens in Seattle on Friday and plays for one week only. So make your plans to see it now.

My only complaint — and I'm not sure yet, this may be more my fault than the movie’s — is that it runs long. To be fair, I also saw this at the end of an emotional day, so that may have influenced my weariness by the end of the film. But I found myself glancing reluctantly at my watch near the end. Many of my favorite films are much longer than this. And some are even slower-paced. Perhaps it was because while there is a lot happening in the film, we eventually begin to realize that not much is going to change, and that this is a story of a long, slow descent into desperation. The sadness, the anxiety, and eventually the anger that I feel about the conditions in which these children live (it’s based on a true story) becomes wearying.

And that is not to say that the film is a complete downer. It’s not. There are vivid moments of happiness and humor that I’ll never forget, including a shot filmed on a merry-go-round that fills me with joy.

Anyway, I strongly recommend this film to everyone.