The Taste of Tea
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
media release: Not rated, 2004, 143 min. | Japanese with English subtitles
Director: Katsuhito Ishii
Cast: Takahiro Sato, Maya Sakano, Tadanobu Asano
In the quiet Japanese countryside, a series of surreal and comic episodes explore a wildly unconventional family: an artist mother obsessed with animation, a hypnotherapist father, a love-struck teenage son, a daughter haunted by a double, and an uncle troubled by ghosts of the past. Director Katsuhito Ishii, who contributed the anime sequence to Kill Bill, crafts an eccentric portrait of domestic life that blends deadpan humor, musical interludes, animated flourishes, and dreamlike imagery. Both playful and deeply odd, The Taste of Tea is “the most charming comedy in town,” (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune).
