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I enjoy slow movies on lazy Sunday afternoons. It’s that time of the weekend when the partying or other tiring activities of Friday evening and Saturday have just left you craving for some quiet, slow time. You wake up late, shower, eat a full lunch, and stretch out on the couch around 2:30 pm, and turn on the TV, and turn the volume down to a calm level. Next Sunday, when you find yourself like that on your couch, try popping in a Japanese film called “The Taste of Tea” - A charming, strange, funny, slow, and long film that completely soaks you in its outlandish, yet simplistically real characters.

Perhaps it was a nostalgic experience for me, as I recounted my life in Japan through my teenage years, but even for a person completely alien to that culture, “The Taste of Tea” would quite convenienty be an enchanting gateway into another side of the Japanese lifestyle. The image that has constantly haunted the west of that culture is one of technological extremes, or sex and violence in a claustrophobic, bustling urban arena. Director Katsuhito Ishii instead takes us out of the city, into a more rural landscape - one that is serene and peaceful, yet very contemporary.

The story doesn’t quite follow a traditional cinematic form. It’s a slice of life. We enter and become part of a strange family, only to realize that they aren’t all that strange afterall. We become involved with these people as Ishii patiently peels layers off his characters so we get to know them deeper. But mind you, this is not a deep film on any level. It’s not necessarily a story either. The film is an experience that captivates us with its bizarre situations, humors us with its randomness, and yet somehow, by the end, may just see us off with that lone tear waiting to escape the eye.

The grandpa of the family remains secluded in his room, comes out sparingly with an idea he communicates only to his daughter-in-law, and suspiciously watches his granddaughter from his window and shuts it when she realizes she is looking. The granddaughter Sachiko is constantly followed by a significantly oversized doppleganger, and she can’t quite figure out how the hell to get rid of her, until she recollects a random story told by her sound-mixer uncle, who in turn is trying to reconnect with a lost love, while his nephew, Sachiko’s brother tries to gather up courage to talk to the new girl he has a crush on by playing the game of GO. Meanwhile, his mother spends her days illustrating some art picking up strange advise on poses from her father-in-law while her husband hypnotizes people for a living. If that doesn’t draw you in, I don’t know what else will.

The film is lengthy at 2 hours and 23 minutes, but once you are drawn in, you won’t want to leave. Such is the magic of Ishii’s storytelling that you get attached to his characters and want more. You enjoy the relationships between each family member, and drawn your own parallels with your family. You’ve been there, done that, yet, you havent. Such is the beauty in which the director and cinematographer Kosuke Matushima establish the geography of Tochigi that you want to live that serene, yet enchanting life, and explore deeper into the magic of the surroundings. The experience is real, but at the same time fantastical.

The film for me played out like a celebration of life for what it is. About recognizing those isolated moments or series of moments that define who we are, who we become. About absorbing the good and the bad, about getting over the disappointments, celebrating the successes, making peace with onesself and living it up. It may be a quirky world, but the beauty of our journey through it may just be in finding the zen in it. And that’s the state of mind this film puts you in, albeit with some laughter and smile.

“Taste of Tea” is classical, old-school storytelling at its best. An experience not to be missed, made better accompanied by sweet cups of chai.

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