Review of Nobody Knows (2004) by Robert W — 01 May 2007

This is an excellent movie, it pulls you into the world of 4 children living in Tokyo who were abandoned by their mother Keiko. The children all range from ages 4-12 two boys and two girls. The movie starts off with the family moving into a small apartment/room in Tokyo 2 of the children are snuck in hidden inside suitcases from the landlords, the oldest of the children Akira is the only child that is permitted to have contact with the outside world. After settling into the new place Keiko goes over the rules with the children, no going outside the apartment/room at anytime, and no loud noises. Akira does all the shopping and sometimes does the cooking while his mother is out on dates. You rarely see Keiko as she leaves the children at home alone all the time and tells them that she is out looking for a husband so that they can all live this wonderful life in a big house and everything. She comes homes only to bring money and drop off presents for the kids. Right before Christmas Keiko leaves a letter and some money for the children, she instructs Akira to watch after his 3 younger siblings Kyoko the oldest girl, Shigeru the youngest boy and Yuki the youngest girl, while she goes off to [work] for some odd months.

At first things are going well, the kids are all chipping in and helping out around the house Kyoko does their laundry while Akira pays all the bills and goes out to get food. The younger kids become more and more intrigued by the outside world while Akira finds himself stuck in the outside world but sitting on the side line, he wants to take part in what all the other kids his age are doing but everytime he tries there is always something to bring him back to the reality that he has way more responsibilities then just being a kid. As the apartment/room starts to deteriorate so does the movie, it gets very gloom and gives this real look into all the struggles that the children have to endure.

I rented this DVD on netflix I saw it in one of my friends list, and thought I would check it out, I never paid attention to its 2 hour plus running time, but actually sitting down and watching the movie you never pay attention to the fact that this movie is 2 hours long, as you are more concerned with how these 4 young kids are going to survive. I am not big on movies that over 2 hours long as I tend to loose all interest in the movie itself, but this was one movie that pulled me into it right from the beginning. It was very well written and directed the acting from these kids was outstanding, this movie is bound to touch your heart.