Quietly devastating…profoundly moving.
TIME OUT

An affecting and moving film…this beautiful tone poem to the process of coming to terms with life and death is a real gem.
BBC

Exquisitely beautiful…a pictorial tone poem of astonishing visual intensity and emotional depth…the film, which was made with only natural light, draws the viewer into its spiritual mood with one breathtaking shot after another, as the camera draws back to contemplate Yumiko from afar. These scenes present her as a detached, mournful figure at the same time that they seem to look through her eyes with a Zen-like clarity that makes you forget you’re watching a movie and are not actually there, standing in her shoes.
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Beautiful and enigmatic imagery…(Kore-Eda) employs sound, light, and striking land and seascapes to represent loneliness, and as the images accumulate they acquire a drama all of their own…a defiantly original movie, free from all the clutter of more conventional cinema.
FILM FOUR