The Taste of Tea

The Taste of Tea poster

Original title| 茶の味
Directed by| Katsuhito Ishii
Produced by| Kazuto Takida
Kazutoshi Wadakura
Written by| Katsuhito Ishii
Starring| Tadanobu Asano
Takahiro Sato
Maya Banno
Satomi Tezuka
Tomokazu Miura
Tatsuya Gashuin
Anna Tsuchiya
Rinko Kikuchi
Music by| Little Tempo
Cinematography| Kosuke Matushima
Edited by| Katsuhito Ishii
Distributed by| Grasshoppa (Japan)
Viz Media (USA)

Release date

* July 17, 2004 (2004-07-17)

Running time

| 143 min
Country| Japan
Language| Japanese

The Taste of Tea (茶の味, Cha no Aji) is a 2004 Japanese comedy drama fantasy film written and directed by Katsuhito Ishii. Described as a "surreal" version of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (1982), it follows the daily lives of a family living in rural Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo. Main influences for the director were the magical realism of Nobuhiko Obayashi, the unexpected humor of Takeshi Kitano, the eccentric surrealism of Seijun Suzuki and the daily life medium-class stories of Yasujiro Ozu. Ishii was It was a selection of the Cannes Film Festival.[1]

## Contents

* 1 Synopsis
* 2 Cast
* 2.1 Haruno family
* 2.2 Side characters
* 3 Reception
* 4 Awards
* 5 References
* 6 Sources
* 7 External links

## Synopsis

The film follows the lives of the Haruno family, who live in rural Tochigi Prefecture, the countryside north of Tokyo. Nobuo is a hypnotherapist. He teaches Go to his son Hajime. Hajime becomes an excellent Go player, but he has a rough time with girls and puberty. Yoshiko refuses to be an average housewife and works on animated film projects at home. She uses assistance from grandfather Akira, an eccentric old man who is a former animator and occasional model.

Eight-year-old Sachiko periodically sees a silent, giant-size double of herself which mimics or benignly watches her. She contemplates ways to rid herself of it. Uncle Ayano is a sound engineer and record producer who comes to stay for a visit. He engages in inward reflection, seeks closure regarding an old relationship, and recounts a childhood experience—a tale that influences Sachiko and ties into later events.

## Cast

### Haruno family

* Tomokazu Miura as Nobuo Haruno - father
* Satomi Tezuka as Yoshiko Haruno - mother
* Maya Banno as Sachiko Haruno - daughter
* Takahiro Sato as Hajime Haruno - son
* Tadanobu Asano as Ayano Haruno - uncle
* Tatsuya Gashuin as Akira Todoroki - grandpa

### Side characters

* Tomoko Nakajima as Akira Terako, former girlfriend of Ayano Haruno
* Anna Tsuchiya as Aoi Suzuishi, new classmate of Hajime and his love interest
* Ikki Todoroki as himself, anime artist recording a song
* Kenichi Matsuyama - Matsuken/The man in the red shirt
* Hideaki Anno as Kasugabe, the anime director Yoshiko works for
* Rinko Kikuchi - Yuriko Kikuchi
* Ryo Kase - Rokutaro Hamadayama
* Kenji Mizuhashi - Maki Hoshino
* Kaiji Moriyama as Morio Moriyama, dancer at the river

## Reception

The Taste of Tea has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes[2] and a 77/100 weighted average on Metacritic.[3] It was also one of Ed Park's choices in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll of the greatest films ever made.[4]

## Awards

* Grand Prix and Audience Award - 2004, Entrevues Film Festival[5]
* Golden Maile Award (Best Feature Film) - 2004, Hawaii International Film Festival[6]
* Best New Actress (Anna Tsuchiya) - 2004, Hochi Film Awards)[7]
* Orient Express Award - 2004, Festival de Cine de Sitges (Special Mention)
* Audience Award - 2005, Dejima Japanese Film Festival
* Best Asian Film - 2005, Fant-Asia Film Festival
* Fantasia Ground-Breaker Award - 2005, Fant-Asia Film Festival (3rd Place)
* Audience Award - 2005, New York Asian Film Festival
* Best New Actress (Anna Tsuchiya) - 2005 Kinema Junpo Awards
* New Talent Award (Anna Tsuchiya) - 2005, Mainichi Film Award
* Festival Prize - 2005, Yokohama Film Festival

## References

1. ↑ "Midnight Eye interview: Rinko Kikuchi". http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/rinko_kikuchi.shtml. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
2. ↑ (in en) The Taste of Tea (Cha no aji), https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_taste_of_tea/, retrieved 2017-11-10
3. ↑ The Taste of Tea, http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-taste-of-tea, retrieved 2017-11-10
4. ↑ "Ed Park | BFI" (in en). http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/647.
5. ↑ "Some of the awards (Grands Prix)". Festival-entrevues.com.
6. ↑ "The Taste of Tea (PDF) - Embassy of Japan". Emb-japan.go.jp.
7. ↑ "Hochi Film Awards - Awards for 2004". Imdb.com.

## Sources

* "Error: no `|title=` specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/2004/eb002810.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-05.Error:+no+`|title=`+specified when+using+{{[[Template:Cite+web|Cite+web]]}}&rft.atitle=&rft.pub=Japanese+Movie+Database&rft_id=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/2004/eb002810.htm&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikibooks.org:Unsolved:The_Taste_of_Tea">

## External links

* Official website
* The Taste of Tea on IMDb

Template:Katsuhito Ishii Template:Hideaki Anno

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