Featured Audience Ratings

• Saskia D

  
  Very enjoyable, I'm a sucker for weird Japanese movies with weird characters; the old gramps was hilarious n_n I liked the surrealistic edge. I'm glad I finally got to see it! <div style="width:628px;"><a… More
  Very enjoyable, I'm a sucker for weird Japanese movies with weird characters; the old gramps was hilarious n_n I liked the surrealistic edge. I'm glad I finally got to see it! <div style="width:628px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/actor/maya-banno-photos/the-taste-of-tea-11789415"><img src="http://content9.flixster.com/photo/11/78/94/11789415_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">

• El Hombre I

  
  Contrary to those Oscar-heralded pieces of garbage, this is a movie that doesn't structure its characters into the confines of a narrative pie chart and doesn't treat these individual experiences as manipulated moments for the audience to laugh at, but as a collective… More
  Contrary to those Oscar-heralded pieces of garbage, this is a movie that doesn't structure its characters into the confines of a narrative pie chart and doesn't treat these individual experiences as manipulated moments for the audience to laugh at, but as a collective recollection we can all fondly recall as at least partially our own. Too many films falsely pretend that people aren't inherently weird. Here, that quality is the one most celebrated. <a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view&current=14-p15-Taste20of20Tea.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/14-p15-Taste20of20Tea.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

• Walter M

  
  "The Taste of Tea" begins with Hajime(Takahiro Sato) devastated because the girl he has a crush on is moving away before he was able to fully express his feelings to her. His younger sister Sachiko(Maya Banno) has problems of her own with a giant representation of her that… More
  "The Taste of Tea" begins with Hajime(Takahiro Sato) devastated because the girl he has a crush on is moving away before he was able to fully express his feelings to her. His younger sister Sachiko(Maya Banno) has problems of her own with a giant representation of her that hangs over everything she does. Their uncle Ayano(Tadanobu Asano) once had a similar problem with a Yakuza ghost until he conquered the horizontal beam which inspires Sachiko to try the same thing. More vulgar than it probably had to be, "The Taste of Tea" gets off to a good start with some coolly surreal images before spinning its wheels for its very extended running time. At least the film does not devolve into "Saragossa Manuscript"-like insanity but that's not to say there is much in the way of focus here, as tangents from the children's lives form at will. Some of them are amusing while others just sit there. And with a movie that is as formed around special effects and fantasy as this one, it is ironic that the one transcendent scene involves neither, just honest to goodness emotion.

• Duncan R

  
  Rare is the movie that manages to be wonderful despite being incredibly convoluted and about half an hour longer than it should. <i>The Taste of Tea</i> is a wonderful exception. Yeah, it meanders aimlessly between more characters than you can shake a stick at, but… More
  Rare is the movie that manages to be wonderful despite being incredibly convoluted and about half an hour longer than it should. <i>The Taste of Tea</i> is a wonderful exception. Yeah, it meanders aimlessly between more characters than you can shake a stick at, but it's so unabashedly charming that I didn't care. I just sat there and enjoyed myself, laughing during some of the more memorable sequences. If you're in the mood for something "quirky" but don't want something overtly weird, this is the way to go.

• Daisy M

  
  The taste of tea was a movie that after watching the first part I wanted to close it down, mostly because it was too slow. I was hoping for something to take place, but nothing. There was no story. The images were very nice filmed but could not bring me pleasure in finishing the… More
  The taste of tea was a movie that after watching the first part I wanted to close it down, mostly because it was too slow. I was hoping for something to take place, but nothing. There was no story. The images were very nice filmed but could not bring me pleasure in finishing the movie. I was fed up after 1 hour watch, and even the funny parts was not funny for me. I was interested in Japanese cinema, I saw some good ones, but these kinds I do not like, I leave this for real movie gurus.