A director with previous experience probing family fissures, Hirokazu Koreeda ( Still Walking ) turns a recipe for schmaltz into something rich and true in his subtly sweet fable of two brothers separated by their parents’ divorce.
Yearning to fix their family, the boys pursue a miracle that involves two bullet trains.
The real miracle is how Koreeda never strains to move us, helped by cute-but-not-cloying real-life sibling leads Koki and Ohshirô Maeda.
The plot meanders but Koreeda’s hand is deceptively sure: the detours all add up in a climactic montage of gentle, effortless poignancy.
