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That was an excellent one.

hyped garbage

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

What a beautiful movie this is. The story of abandoned kids doesn't necessarily be associated with streets and rags. 'Nobody Knows' is one such movies , set in Tokyo, of kids that are result of a careless mothers who abandons them and the struggles they go though. This has taken me through an emotional roller-coaster with out any actual major drama but huge shift in characters maturity. The performance of kids is mind blowing. Story was told in very subtle tone with great intensity. Superb photography and great background soundtracks . There are very less verbal conversations in this movie which makes it easy for an non Japanese like me.

I really cannot believe why people like this movie. I've read comments where people are saying that this film is beautiful. Really? Someone could actually look at the suffering going on in this movie and enjoy it, let alone call it beautiful? My major fault with this movie is that is seems almost pointless. Why would anyone want to watch a group of kids suffering for 2 hours, because that pretty much sums up the whole movie. Honestly, you have to be sort of sick in the head to actually watch this film and think, "Wow, I'm so touched. I just watched these kids live incredibly miserable lives... I really enjoyed it. What a great movie." That right there basically sums up the only reason why someone would like this movie, because unlike other sad movies, this movie does not contain values to be learned or at least enjoyable scenes.So to sum it all up, I would only recommend this movie to those who enjoy watching others suffer. I, for one, don't enjoy watching others suffer, and so I give this movie a 1 out of 10.

Acclaimed movie Dare mo shiranai (Nobody Knows, 2004) and related featurettes on the DVD from my Tokyo acquisition earlier this year, easily proved to be well worthy of my prolonged attention.Though slow-moving and long (almost 2.5 hours), one never gets bored watching four kids (in the movie of the age of 4, 6, 10 and 12 years) trying to survive on their own. Kids are kawaii (cute) and their performances touching, while bringing to life a bittersweet story of abandoned children. Trying to avoid attention from authorities and subsequent institutionalisation or imposed guardianship, inevitably leading to their separation, they are concealing the fact from their landlords and neighbours, continuing to live alone and thus staying together, sadly, with an almost unsurprisingly tragic outcome. Indeed a powerful story, based on real events. Unfortunately, as found on the free on-line encyclopedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_(2004_film), actual events, taking place in 1988 in Tokyo's Toshima-ku (ward), thoroughly described in "The affair of the four abandoned children of Sugamo" depiction of the incident, have been even far more gruesome. Well deserved rating 9 out of 10.

I recently viewed this film several times on Independent Film Channel ( a wonderfully creative channel, and break from the usual fodder shown on HBO/Showtime. Or AMC, American Movie Channel, which re-runs John Wayne films so often (yes, even in the year 2009), I am starting to think his estate owns stock in that channel.The story here was based on truth, which I was not aware of when I watched this. The five children are left to their own devices, abandoned by a young woman, who is divorced and feels overwhelmed. She spontaneously decides to go off with another man, into a different town.The children are very believable, and try their best to survive in a tiny apartment, even resorting to growing seeds, as their electric and water supply is turned off. The actor portraying the eldest, Akira, is very good and sympathetic in the role, he worries about feeding the younger children, how to shoplift from the grocery store, and retrieve water for them when the supply is cut off at home.He brings one friend from school to stay with him, an older girl who first views the unkempt apartment with disdain, but then befriends, and even helps Akira.Good programming IFC! A film worth watching more than twice. 9/10.