# Still Walking (歩いても 歩いても)
**Still Walking** (歩いても 歩いても, *Aruitemo aruitemo*) is a 2008 [Japanese family](https://www.edgepedia.org/japanese-family) drama directed, written, and edited by [Hirokazu Kore-eda](https://www.edgepedia.org/hirokazu-kore-eda), depicting one summer day in which the Yokoyama family gathers at the elderly parents' home to commemorate the death of the eldest son, who drowned years earlier while saving a boy from drowning.[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/1231) • [2](https://www.criterion.com/films/27540-still-walking) Kore-eda created the film as a tribute to his own late mother, and it is widely described as his most personal work.[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/27540-still-walking)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 歩いても 歩いても (*Aruitemo aruitemo*) |
| Director, writer, editor | Hirokazu Kore-eda; cinematography by Yutaka Yamazaki; music by Gontiti[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/1231) |
| Release | June 28, 2008 (Japan), distributed by Cine Qua Non; 114 minutes, 35 mm, 1.85:1[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/1231) • [2](https://www.criterion.com/films/27540-still-walking) |
| Principal cast | Hiroshi Abe (Ryota), Yui Natsukawa (Yukari), You (Chinami), Kirin Kiki (Toshiko), Yoshio Harada (Kyohei)[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/27540-still-walking) |
| Premise | The family reunites on the anniversary of eldest son Junpei's drowning; sources place his death twelve[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216014-still_walking) and fifteen[4](https://www.kore-eda.com/english/works.html) years before the reunion |
| Major awards | CEC Award for Best Film, San Sebastián 2008; Golden Astor for Best Film, Mar del Plata 2008; Best Director, 4th Asian Film Awards[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/1231) |
| US release | IFC Films, August 28, 2009 (limited); $167,047 domestic, $3,534,890 worldwide gross[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1087578/) |
| Criterion edition | Spine #554, director-approved high-definition transfer[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/27540-still-walking) |
## Spoilers
### Story and structure
The film takes place over roughly a single day and night at the Yokoyama house, a coastal home near Yokohama that once served as the father's medical practice.[6](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2009/films/still-walking) • [7](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/4083-still-walking.html) Kyohei (Yoshio Harada), a retired doctor, and Toshiko (Kirin Kiki) welcome their surviving children: younger son Ryota (Hiroshi Abe), who arrives with his new wife Yukari (Yui Natsukawa) and her son from a previous marriage, and daughter Chinami (You) with her husband and children.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216014-still_walking) • [8](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/512cec851c7d76e046001218-still-walking) The occasion is the memorial anniversary of the eldest son, Junpei, who drowned while rescuing a boy from the sea; the boy he saved is expected to visit every year as well.[6](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2009/films/still-walking)
The drama stays below the surface. Ryota, unemployed and unable to say so, feels his parents resent that he is not the son who died; his parents do not accept his wife, a widow with a child; Chinami fills uncomfortable pauses with forced cheer.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216014-still_walking) • [8](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/512cec851c7d76e046001218-still-walking) Kore-eda withholds key information, including the identity of the dead brother and the reason for the gathering, and concentrates on ordinary actions such as eating, walking, and looking at photographs, so that the events unfold almost in real time.[9](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fc/images/FG_Still%20Walking.pdf)
## Personal origin and the title
Kore-eda conceived the film after the death of his own mother. "After my mother's death, I was left with feeling that I wasn't there in time; that you're never there in time. I was filled with a strong, deep regret. That was the basis for the film," he said in 2008.[10](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2610-pain-and-nourishment-kirin-kiki-in-still-walking) The Cannes festival dossier records that in the five or six years before making the film he lost both parents, and that he "wanted to make a movie where I could immediately recognize my mother."[11](https://catalogues.iksv.org/film_katalog_2009_low_res.pdf)
The title comes from the lyrics of "Blue Light Yokohama," a 1960s Japanese pop hit that was a favorite of Kore-eda's mother and of Toshiko in the film, where the song carries a perverse significance as a reminder of her husband's betrayal.[12](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1743-still-walking-a-death-in-the-family%3Fsrsltid%3DAfmBOoqoRR_3OIlSEfS9UNAoE_ZWRZM-Zkguoj_apUnhLkX_BYeKx20z)
## Style: food, memory, and the fixed camera
Rather than big dramatic moments, the film relies on simple gestures and domestic routines, especially cooking, to evoke a family's entire life, its regrets and its daily joys.[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/27540-still-walking) Food preparation is not incidental: recipes, serving, and cleanup structure the family's interaction, and Criterion's edition even includes recipes for the dishes prepared in the film.[13](https://cinemaanthology.com/japanese/films/still-walking/) The scholar Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano has identified a set of "memory props" revealed in close-ups, including corn tempura, an empty drawer, an old record and phonograph, broken tiles, and a yellow butterfly, inserted as transitional images comparable to Ozu's "pillow shots."[9](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fc/images/FG_Still%20Walking.pdf)
Kore-eda rarely moves the camera, composing long takes, such as the sushi lunch scene, that read as still lifes or framed photographs; the conspicuous exceptions come at the gravesite, with a panning shot mid-film and a tilt and crane up to a panoramic long shot that closes the narrative.[9](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fc/images/FG_Still%20Walking.pdf) The film's gentle naturalism harks back to the director's earlier documentary work.[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/27540-still-walking)
## Place in Kore-eda's career and the Ozu comparison
Still Walking was Kore-eda's sixth feature, following the documentary-inflected dramas Maborosi (1995), After Life (1998), Distance (2001), and the Cannes prize-winning Nobody Knows (2004), and his first attempt at a period piece, Hana (2006).[4](https://www.kore-eda.com/english/works.html) It was received with critical and public acclaim worldwide and reflected his own personal experiences.[4](https://www.kore-eda.com/english/works.html)
Critics repeatedly place the film in the Japanese "home drama" tradition of Yasujiro Ozu and Mikio Naruse; the BFI calls it Kore-eda's most Ozu-like film, a study of the different assumptions and value systems of different generations.[14](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-still-walking-2008-online) • [15](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/big%20screen%20classics/2023/05/15/still-walking/) The Rotterdam festival catalog notes the comparison but argues the light tone Kore-eda seeks is different: "He's not looking to be a new Ozu, but a new Kore-Eda."[6](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2009/films/still-walking) Later commentary holds that the film renewed the Japanese family-drama tradition and established the mature Kore-eda mode later expanded in Shoplifters (2018).[13](https://cinemaanthology.com/japanese/films/still-walking/)
The film also began Kore-eda's collaboration with the veteran actress Kirin Kiki, who became a regular in his casts.[14](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-still-walking-2008-online) Kiki, sixty-five when she made the film, plays the mother as the family's heart and the film's focus, combining warmth, comic precision, and casual cruelty in the same conversation; her performance won the Best Actress award at the 2008 Festival of the 3 Continents in Nantes and a Hochi Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.[10](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2610-pain-and-nourishment-kirin-kiki-in-still-walking) • [16](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1087578/awards/)
## Reception and awards
The film premiered internationally at the [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) and screened at Tribeca and San Francisco, and it won the CEC Award for Best Film at [San Sebastián](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-sebastian), the Golden Astor for Best Film and an ACCA Jury Prize at [Mar del Plata](https://www.edgepedia.org/mar-del-plata), Best Director at the 4th Asian Film Awards and at the Eurasia International Film Festival, and a Blue Ribbon Award for best director in Tokyo.[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/1231) • [17](https://www.bunbukubun.com/en/works/422/) • [18](https://trigon-film.s3.amazonaws.com/production/media/films/still-walking-aruitemo-aruitemo/DP_Still_Walking.pdf) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 100% Tomatometer from 66 reviews and a 90% audience score, with a critics consensus that the film "may seem modest at first" but "casts a delicate, entrancing spell."[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216014-still_walking) The Criterion Collection released it on Blu-ray as Spine #554 with a director-approved transfer, new interviews with Kore-eda and Yamazaki, a making-of documentary, and an essay by the critic Dennis Lim.[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/27540-still-walking)
## References
1. [Still Walking, Japanese Film Database (JFDB)](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/1231)
2. [Still Walking (2008), The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/27540-still-walking)
3. [Still Walking, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216014-still_walking)
4. [Profile & Works, KORE-EDA.com](https://www.kore-eda.com/english/works.html)
5. [Still Walking, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1087578/)
6. [Still Walking, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2009](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2009/films/still-walking)
7. [Still Walking, Festival des Cinémas d'Asie de Vesoul](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/4083-still-walking.html)
8. [Still Walking, 2009 Tribeca Festival](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/512cec851c7d76e046001218-still-walking)
9. [Still Walking (2008), Film Criticism teaching dossier, University of Michigan](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fc/images/FG_Still%20Walking.pdf)
10. [Pain and Nourishment: Kirin Kiki in Still Walking, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2610-pain-and-nourishment-kirin-kiki-in-still-walking)
11. [İstanbul Film Festival 2009 catalogue](https://catalogues.iksv.org/film_katalog_2009_low_res.pdf)
12. [Still Walking: A Death in the Family, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1743-still-walking-a-death-in-the-family%3Fsrsltid%3DAfmBOoqoRR_3OIlSEfS9UNAoE_ZWRZM-Zkguoj_apUnhLkX_BYeKx20z)
13. [Still Walking, Cinema Anthology](https://cinemaanthology.com/japanese/films/still-walking/)
14. [Watch Still Walking online, BFI Player](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-still-walking-2008-online)
15. [Still Walking, BFI Southbank Programme Notes](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/big%20screen%20classics/2023/05/15/still-walking/)
16. [Still Walking (2008) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1087578/awards/)
17. [Still Walking, Bunbuku Inc.](https://www.bunbukubun.com/en/works/422/)
18. [Still Walking press dossier, trigon-film](https://trigon-film.s3.amazonaws.com/production/media/films/still-walking-aruitemo-aruitemo/DP_Still_Walking.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license