Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

Jesus

2018 1h 16m Drama Comedy List
64% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 62% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
A Japanese boy begins attending a Christian school, a religion he knows nothing about.

Critics Reviews

View All (11) Critics Reviews
Wendy Ide Screen International Jesus is a confident and engaging picture; although it does seem a little over-stretched even at its slight running time. Dec 10, 2018 Full Review Neil Young Hollywood Reporter Even at 76 minutes Okuyama's debut feels like a padded-out short... Oct 3, 2018 Full Review Pieter-Jan Van Haecke Psychocinematography Okuyama's evocation of the irreducible tension that exists between praying and the lack of results enables him to craft a touching tale of subjective growth and emancipation from religion. Sep 27, 2020 Full Review Panos Kotzathanasis Asian Film Vault Hiroshi Okuyama directs a sensitive, subtle drama about children and the way they perceive the world and the events that occur in their lives, in the footsteps of Hirokazu Koreeda or even Hayao Miyazaki, when one considers the "animated" Jesus part Dec 2, 2019 Full Review Beatriz Martínez Fotogramas A creative allegory about pain and loss. [Full Review in Spanish] Rated: 4/5 Nov 14, 2019 Full Review Javier Ocaña El Pais (Spain) It lacks height and transcendence, and prefers to take refuge in a subtler and more stony symbolism, without abounding in the complex theological universes that Okuyama address. [Full Review in Spanish] Jul 30, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (1) audience reviews
Audience Member "I dislike Jesus" (the original Japanese title) was very interesting, especially the first half. This debut film is based on the director's first encounter with Christianity as a child in Japan, a country where only around 1% of the population is Christian. Most Japanophiles are particularly fascinated by religion in Japan. Japan has 2 main religions: Shintoism, the pagan or shamanistic, original religion, and Buddhism, which was introduced to the country in the 6th century. However, most Japanese people don't seem to differentiate between which of their traditions are Shinto or Buddhist. They appear to be very superstitious, but passive members of both religions. If you ever watched Scorsese's Silence (2016), you'll have been introduced to Christianity's unwelcome history in Japan, which explains why only 1 out of every 100 people are Christian. A personal example of this abstract data is that my Japanese ex-girlfriend also didn't really know anything about Jesus. When we went to Florence together and she wanted to see all the churches and museums, she didn't really have any context to understand the artwork or religious iconography. She spent her downtime reading all about Christianity and Jesus. To me, yesterday's film "Jesus" shows what most Japanese people will experience when they encounter this "foreign" religion, regardless of their age. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Jesus

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A Japanese boy begins attending a Christian school, a religion he knows nothing about.
Director
Hiroshi Okuyama
Producer
Tadashi Yoshino
Screenwriter
Hiroshi Okuyama
Production Co
Closing Remarks
Genre
Drama, Comedy
Original Language
Japanese
Runtime
1h 16m