Cherry Blossoms (Kirschblüten - Hanami) (2008)

When I read that German writer/director Doris Dörrie had a new movie I remembered enjoying her previous one, Men... (Männer...) (1985), a comic tale in which a womanizer moves out when his wife leaves him for an artist, and then the husband becomes the artist's roommate, confidant, and mentor. Dörrie has made a number of others (including How to Cook Your Life (2007) about Zen practitioner and cook Edward Espe Brown), but Men... is the only one I've seen. Cherry Blossoms' trailer promised nice travel photography and a touching story and delivered big-time. In the first scene Trudi (Hannelore Elsner) learns that her husband Rudi (Elmar Wepper) is fatally ill, though now without symptoms, so she plans to make his last days (and hers with him) as full as she can, without telling him or anyone else of his death sentence. Their first move is to visit their grown children in Berlin: Klaus, married with children, and petulant Karolin, who is in a relationship with the lovely Franzi (no one could ask for a better daughter-in-law). Twists and turns take the story to Tokyo, where favorite son Karl lives, but he's even less mature than his sister. Hanami means flower viewing, usually cherry blossoms, and Jody and I marvelled at the realization that most of the movie was shot during the full bloom of the cherry blossoms, which lasts only about 2 weeks (and fills the country with tourists). I really liked this! It should be out on DVD soon.