The Japanese Wife

I remember, in 2008, when the book first released, I wanted to read it....had heard so much about the author from my friend Sharmistha. After hearing me tirelessly ranting about the author, his up-coming book and how much i wanted to buy it.....Smita and OKD obliged by gifting it to me on my Birthday :) I was thrilled...... and it did turn out to be a nice read. But, I had not expected it to be a short story and a part of a series of short stories in the book......nevertheless it was good. Then I heard that Aparna Sen was so intrigued by this simple and beautiful tale of two lovers that she had decided to make a movie on it which was due to be released in late 2008. Well, I was curious how she would play with the story to make a full fledged movie out of it....and was disappointed to hear that the release has been delayed. Very recently when I found out that it is finally going to release I secretly hoped that it would go down well with critics :P Any small hint that it is worth a watch and I would definitely do so.....and thus I end the movie spree of last week (5 in a row....two reviewed already plus The Hurt Locker and Good bye Lenin).
I must say....it was definitely worth it......a beautiful movie, wonderful cinematography, lovely and soulful background score and great performances. Though there were two places where I thought things went a little awry.....the kite flying scene (a bit vague and stretched) and the fleeting flirtation between the widow and the protagonist (the transition in characters was not smooth).
Some scenes are just fabulously shot..you have to see it to find out.
I watched it with two bong friends and they are of the opinion that some witticism was lost in translation from Bengali to English.... but that's true for any movie in a language other than what you are well versed with. One point though.....I wasn't too happy with the person who did the voice-over for Miyagi, the Japanese wife, but maybe that's because I have not heard any Japanese people speak in English at close quarters. Snehamoy's Bangla accented English however is superb :)

Here's the trailer: