After I saw Still Walking, a perfect movie, I put every movie directed by Hirokazu Koreeda in my queue regardless of whether the plot summary appealed to me. Nobody Knows was about to expire, and Netflix was about to remove it from being available instantly. I waited until the absolute last second to watch it, and even then, I would have postponed watching it if I could. I couldn’t take it and would not recommend watching it even though Nobody Knows is amazing because you will be supremely depressed.
Nobody Knows is about four children trying to survive in Tokyo without any adult in their life after their mother, who was irresponsible when she was present, abandons them. She won’t let the kids go to school so most people don’t know that three of the four even exist. Apparently Nobody Knows is loosely based on a real story that happened in the 80s.
I found Nobody Knows excruciatingly devastating in its lack of cinematic artifice (for example, there is no soundtrack). The innate suspense and tension created by the nature of the situation made me spoil Nobody Knows in the middle. Nobody Knows is touching in its subtle portrait of the children’s relationship with each other and the world and judiciously decorous in allowing some visual privacy when Nobody Knows decides not to show everything and imply tragedy. Nobody Knows is quite jarring when it juxtaposes the children’s appearance with their surroundings-they seem like they are from another time and place miles away from the postmodern and ultra civilized Tokyo.
Nobody Knows’ individual portrait of the oldest son-his maturity and love for his siblings conflicting with his desire to be who he is, a child who wants to have fun, is heart wrenching. If you watch Nobody Knows carefully, especially the opening scenes, you will probably be able to figure out what will happen, but you will still feel worse than if you were punched in the gut. Nobody Knows is the least sentimental and most realistic portrayal of child neglect that I have ever seen. You will literally want to jump in the movie and shake every adult depicted in Nobody Knows.