Exquisitely detailed family drama shines with warmth and understanding. After months of being alone, sad, busy, sidetracked, free, lofty, late and away from his kids, Lenny (Ronald Bronstein), 34 with graying frazzled hair, picks his kids up from school. Every year he spends of couple of weeks with his sons Sage (Sage Ranaldo), 9, and Frey (Frey Ranaldo), 7. Lenny juggles his kids and everything else all within a midtown studio apartment in New York City. He ultimately faces the choice of being their father or their friend with the idea that these two weeks must last 6 months. In these two weeks, a trip upstate, visitors from strange lands, a mother, a girlfriend, “magic” blankets, and complete lawlessness seem to take over their lives. The film is a swan song to excuses and irresponsibility’s; to fatherhood and self-created experiences, and to what its like to be truly torn between being a child and being an adult. director Hirokazu Kore-Eda's personal experience. On the 15th anniversary of the death of the Yokoyama family’s youngest son, the remaining siblings visit the quaint home of their parents with their own families in tow. New relatives become acquainted tell stories and squabble over sizzling tempura. An elegant graveside ritual is performed. “***** (highest rating). A new classic… moviemaking of a rare emotional subtlety” -Rothkopf, Time Out NY