The Whispering Star

2015

1h 40m

Sci-Fi

List

83%

Tomatometer

6 Reviews

67%

Audience Score

Fewer than 50 Ratings

An android travels through the galaxy and delivers years-in-wait packages to the last remaining humans.

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Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

The Blue Lenses

This is the film few could have imagined Sion Sono had in him: Stanley Kubrick meets Andrei Tarkovsky by way of Chantal Akerman's fascination with temporality and gendered ritual.

Rated: 9/10

Aug 25, 2018

Full Review

Luke Gorham

In Review Online

As stark and deliberate as Tarkovsky, but as heartfelt and imaginative as the first thirty minutes of WALL∙E.

Aug 13, 2020

Full Review

Panos Kotzathanasis

Asian Movie Pulse

A unique entry in Sion Sono's filmography, and a film relatively difficult to watch, due to its minimalism and slow pace. However, it is a very beautiful and meaningful movie, which is bound to stay in memory due to its uniqueness

Dec 25, 2019

Full Review

Anton Bitel

SciFiNow

Shot in monochrome to suggest the dreary drudgery of Yoko's existence... and with all its lines spoken in subdued tones..., The Whispering Star gently parcels out its messages about memory, loss, longing and loneliness over a leisurely duration.

Apr 16, 2018

Full Review

Max Goldberg

Cinema Scope

Alas, while the visions of Fukushima and its wandering souls are undeniably haunting, one can't help but feel that The Whispering Star remains a sketch, its slow-drip seriality better suited to an installation than a feature film.

Nov 29, 2017

Full Review

Mary Angela Rowe

Seventh Row

Though its scanty narrative and creeping pace hindered my engagement with the film, The Whispering Star is a well-crafted addition to Sono's oeuvre.

Aug 14, 2017

Full Review

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DanTheMan 2

I didn't know what to expect from my first Sion Sono movie, so when The Whispering Star ended up as what I can only describe as Stanley Kubrick meets Andrei Tarkovsky I was certainly surprised. Its narrative is almost wholly visual with minimal dialogue, often spoken in hushed and reverential whispers, expecting the audience to fill in the gaps with the limited information they've been given. Despite the clunky and unoriginal outlook of society and nature, it's the way the film is presented to you that makes all the difference, the black & white photography of the seemingly abandoned Fukushima Prefecture is gorgeous, with one scene of colour feeling beautifully alien to the rest of the movie. The long periods of reflective silence allow the audience and character to ponder on their meaning and place in the universe. While at times feeling akin to that of an arthouse production, for what it's worth, your patience will be rewarded if you can make it to the end.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/18/23

Full Review

mauro l

Existentialist critique of the human crepuscular condition rhetorically expressed with identical desolation. (Mauro Lanari)

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Sion Sono

Director

Megumi Kagurazaka

Yoko

Yûto Ikeda

Actor

Kôko Mori

Actor

Sion Sono

Writer

Sion Sono

Producer

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Synopsis

An android travels through the galaxy and delivers years-in-wait packages to the last remaining humans.

Director: Sion Sono
Producer: Sion Sono, Akira Funaki, Izumi Sono, Takeshi Suzuki
Screenwriter: Sion Sono
Production Co: Sion Production
Genre: Sci-Fi
Original Language: Japanese
Runtime: 1h 40m