Maboroshi no hikari (Maborosi) (Illusion) (1995)

100% of critics liked it
(16 reviews)
82% of users liked it
(1,540 ratings)

Japanese documentarian Hirokazu Kore-eda made his first dramatic feature with this austere drama, which recalls the visual and narrative style of Yasujiro Ozu. Yukimo (Makiko Esumi) is married to Ikuo (Tadanobu Asano), a happy and humble man who loves her very much. While Yukimo and Ikuo are content… More Japanese documentarian Hirokazu Kore-eda made his first dramatic feature with this austere drama, which recalls the visual and narrative style of Yasujiro Ozu. Yukimo (Makiko Esumi) is married to Ikuo (Tadanobu Asano), a happy and humble man who loves her very much. While Yukimo and Ikuo are content in their marriage and have a beautiful infant son named Yuichi, Yukimo is haunted by visions of death. She has a recurring nightmare in which her grandmother leaves her home to go to the village of her birth to die, as Yukimo weeps uncontrollably. Yukimo's sad obsession foreshadows a real tragedy in her life when she wakes one morning to discover that police are at her door -- Ikuo has died after apparently committing suicide along the nearby railroad tracks. Yukimo is shattered and spends several years in solitude, until she meets Tamio (Taketoshi Naito), a widowed fisherman who lives in a nearby village with his daughter. They fall in love, and Yukimo marries him and moves into his home. She begins to find happiness anew, until she returns to her old home for her brother's wedding, which brings back a flood of troubling memories. Maboroshi no Hikari (which translates as "Illusory Light") was a multiple award winner at the 1995 Venice International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min.
Directed By: Hirokazu Koreeda
Written By: Yoshihisa Ogita
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1995 Wide
On DVD: Mar 29, 2005

Critic Reviews

Stephen Holden, New York Times
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.
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
Nothing is casual and nothing is wasted in Maborosi.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Maborosi is a worthwhile movie experience not because it ventures into virgin territory, but because its presentation is so precise and unique.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Maborosi is one of those valuable films where you have to actively place yourself in the character's mind. There are times when we do not know what she is thinking, but we are inspired with an active sympathy.
Derek Adams, Time Out
The tale is told in contemplative wide-angle shots; the absence of any spurious, unearned intimacy with the characters makes the climactic scenes profoundly moving.
Mark Pfeiffer, TheFilmJournal.com (Ohio)
[Hirokazu's] also one of the most empathetic filmmakers, softly guiding viewers through his meditations on life and death.
Daniel Eagan, Film Journal International
Widow tries to find out why her husband killed himself. Slow-paced but moving Japanese drama.
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
The film uses natural lighting exclusively, eschewing staged settings as often as possible and keeping some nighttime scenes entirely in the dark, an eerie mirror to Yumiko's wounded heart.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A superior film.
Alex Albanese, Boxoffice Magazine
Though the audience always remains at a distance, both physical and emotional, from Yumiko, her sense of loss and her inner journey are made vivid by purely filmic means.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
This is a powerful and profound Japanese film about one woman's long and arduous journey through grief's labyrinth.
Vanessa Vance, Reel.com
Maborosi exquisitely captures the despondence of a young widow overcoming her grief in a cold, remote village in coastal Japan.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Examiner
Measured and meditative, the Japanese film Maborosi draws the viewer, without emotional bludgeoning or manipulation, into the experience of a woman who has suffered a devastating personal loss.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Lesley N

I knew nothing about this film before I watched it (rare in itself) and not a whole heap more after it had finished. I don't speak Japanese, so even the title gave nothing away. It's a slow film, a mood piece I guess about the aftermath of a young woman and her… More
I knew nothing about this film before I watched it (rare in itself) and not a whole heap more after it had finished. I don't speak Japanese, so even the title gave nothing away. It's a slow film, a mood piece I guess about the aftermath of a young woman and her child's lives after her partner commits suicide.. Not a lot happens but its very lovely to look at and watchable in a subtle kind of way.