Review of Little Boy (2015) by Thomas R — 27 Apr 2015

In this movie, "Karate Kid" meets "Life is Beautiful" meets "It's a Wonderful Life." Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa makes a rock-solid performance as Mr. Hashimoto, and Jacob Salvati plays the lead role of Pepper with total honesty and sincerity. The story is poetic, deep, well-acted, gripping, moving, and at moments quite funny.

(Note: I think the "Official trailer #2" on youtube captures this movie a lot better than trailer #1.).

In this film, we see the big questions of life magnified through the eyes of Pepper, a small boy: When do I give up? When do I accept loss? When do I fight the unchangeable? When does my love for Dad turn into hatred for Mr. Hashimoto? Who will be my friend?

After reading a number of reviews, I can only assume that these critics simply weren't paying much attention when they watched the movie. For instance: (TINY SPOILER) when Hiroshima is destroyed, Monteverde dramatically clashes the jubilation of small-town America against the reality of the unconscionable massacre of innocent Japanese. He films the O'Hare townsfolk singing and cheering at the news, then in the middle of the song he smash-cuts to a terrifying nuclear explosion on a huge movie screen, then to Pepper's stunned face as more shots of the destruction and carnage play before him. In a dream that night, Pepper finds his father dead in a huge crater beside the charred remains of Japanese children. I feel that this sequence very effectively juxtaposed the conflicting perceptions people had at the time of that tragedy.

Washington Post, however, disagrees. They give the movie 1.5 of 5 stars because "The film can't seem to make up its mind whether [the atom bomb] is a good or a bad thing.".

Really, Washington Post? Really?

So: if you are looking for a rich, poetic, multi-layered story, told by great actors, that asks the tough questions every child has asked (and that most of us are still asking), then this movie will be well worth watching, both today and for years to come.

If, on the other hand, you are the Washington Post, then I don't know what you should watch... Mall Cop 2? Nah, its poetic depth would get lost on you.