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Nobody Knows

Play trailer Poster for Nobody Knows PG-13 2005 2h 21m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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92% Tomatometer 92 Reviews 93% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Preteen Akira Fukushima (Yûya Yagira) and his young siblings have been abandoned by their mother, Keiko (You). Keiko, who has moved in with a new lover, has left Akira in charge of his brother, two sisters and a whole apartment, with little money and food to see them through. Akira and the other children, who were never enrolled in school, struggle to survive without basic amenities as they cope with a strange, solitary existence in a Tokyo apartment building.
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Nobody Knows

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Critics Consensus

Tragic and haunting, a beautifully heart-wrenching portrait of child abandonment.

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Critics Reviews

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David Parkinson Empire Magazine 04/01/2006
4/5
Rarely has a kid's-eye view of the adult world been captured with such innocence and insight. Go to Full Review
Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle 04/23/2005
4/5
The rare film that successfully tells its tale of childhood from the children's point of view. Go to Full Review
Terry Lawson Detroit Free Press 03/18/2005
3/4
At its heart, Nobody Knows is a sweet salute to the tenacity and courage of children who are blithely mistreated by adults who should know better and probably do. Go to Full Review
David Lamble Bay Area Reporter 05/07/2020
Nobody Knows substitutes an emotional sucker-punch of too much knowledge and no easy fixes. Go to Full Review
Tom Dawson The List 04/23/2019
4/5
Although it's perhaps overlong, Nobody Knows is shot with Ozu-esque beauty over four seasons and exceptionally acted by its non-professional cast. Go to Full Review
Catherine Graham Santa Cruz Sentinel 03/22/2019
B
Yuya Yogira is remarkable, a screen debut as exciting as Jean Pierre Leaud's in The 400 Blows. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Claudio C @Claudio666 Dec 8 Fight for Survival (12,115 – 17 Dec 2007 / 08 Dec 2025) In Tokyo, the reckless single mother Keiko moves to a small apartment with her twelve years old son Akira Fukushima and his siblings Kyoko, Shigeru and Yuki. The children have different fathers and do not have schooling, but they have a happy life with their mother. When Keiko finds a new boyfriend, she leaves the children alone, giving some money to Akira and assigning him to take care of his siblings. When the money finishes, Akira manages to find means to survive with the kids. "Dare mo Shiranai", a.k.a "Nobody Knows", is a sensitive movie based on a true story. The performances of the children are amazing, highlighting Yûya Yagira, and the drama is developed in a slow but suitable pace. The direction is effective and the music score is adequate. The open conclusion is disappointing, since it does not bring any message. It seems that life goes on only. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Ninguém Pode Saber" ("Nobody Can Know") See more Madam D @Madam1948 Oct 17 Extremely sad to watch this little family have to deal with life on their own. The child actors were all quite talented. Hard to believe it is based on a true story. See more Eze Q 11/16/2024 It could have been a bit shorter, excellent movie See more hamid reza g 04/10/2023 An admirable film with very beautiful plans and a perceptive director who has been able to create realism with a film. The film is very effective with few dialogues but with strong images and little and wise music. The film is in praise of childhood and the story of four children who become victims in an irresponsible and passive world. Although the story of the film is sad, the strength of the film is that it is full of effort, sacrifice and hope. At the end of the film, the image shows the four children happily going home after shopping, and the image is fixed. Although the director wants to make us think of children and childhood, I personally like the movement of children in the depth of the picture towards the future. The movie should be seen and enjoyed. See more acsdoug D @acsdoug 12/16/2022 There's no conclusion here, no redemption, just four kids living in misery for 2+ hours. Judging by its high RT score many people find that poignant and compelling. I just found it depressing. See more Walkabout 05/22/2022 Inspired by 1988 news story "Sugamo child abandonment case", Kore-eda openly denounces a social issue that has been hidden for too long. He leaves out the dark and gloomy nature of the incident (that includes a rape), creating a delicate and mature film transposition more involved, closer and intimate compared to the previous works. An example of this direction are the more frequent medium shots and close-ups. Core of the story is the individualism and infantilism of adults, the indifference of society, the lack of empathy and "humanism" ("jindōshugi" 人道主義). As in previous works, we find also the Japanese aesthetics of "mono no aware" (物の哀れ), that enhances the "pathos of things", or rather, the "empathy toward things". Some examples are the fingernail polish that symbolize the maternity, but also the plants as growth and return to nature. It is precisely in this return to primitivism that the four brothers find a way to survive on the edges of society, ignored by all. However, children never lose their dignity, even in the face of the toughest tragedy. Materialistic and frivolous adults, like the mother and her lovers or the alleged fathers and gambling, are completely in contrast to the naive nature of the protagonists, eternal misfits, but in their purity of soul, honest and right, totally alien to contemporary Japanese society. See more Read all reviews
Nobody Knows

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Movie Info

Synopsis Preteen Akira Fukushima (Yûya Yagira) and his young siblings have been abandoned by their mother, Keiko (You). Keiko, who has moved in with a new lover, has left Akira in charge of his brother, two sisters and a whole apartment, with little money and food to see them through. Akira and the other children, who were never enrolled in school, struggle to survive without basic amenities as they cope with a strange, solitary existence in a Tokyo apartment building.
Director
Hirokazu Koreeda
Producer
Hirokazu Koreeda
Screenwriter
Hirokazu Koreeda
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
Engine Film Inc., Bandai Visual Co. Ltd., Cine Qua Non Films
Rating
PG-13 (Some Sexual References|Mature Thematic Elements)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 4, 2005, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 19, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$683.6K
Runtime
2h 21m
Sound Mix
Dolby SR
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