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Canary

Play trailer Canary 2005 2h 12m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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67% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 57% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Two emotionally neglected 12-year-olds flee from a doomsday cult called Aum Shinrikyo.

Critics Reviews

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Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times 07/25/2008
3.5/5
If the writer-director, Akihiko Shiota, sometimes strains too hard for mythic import, his patience is a gift. As Yuki watches a blind woman fashion an origami bird, the characters' connection to a simpler, collective past is evident in every perfect fold. Go to Full Review David Fear Time Out 07/24/2008
4/6
It lacks the punch of Shiota's previous explorations of traumatized teen spirits, but the film still leaves bruises in all the right places. Go to Full Review Simon Abrams New York Press 07/23/2008
In Canary, the audience is encouraged to sit back and allow sleepily serene scenes of quiet isolation to limit their opinions to tranquil tsk-tsks. Go to Full Review Kam Williams NewsBlaze 07/25/2008
2.5/4
The Orient's relatively-eloquent answer to Eminem's 8-Mile and 50-Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin', replete with gangsta' rap on the soundtrack. Go to Full Review Louis Proyect rec.arts.movies.reviews 07/25/2008
Gripping "road movie" featuring two remarkably well-developed 12 year old characters played consummately by two gifted child actors. Set against backdrop of infamous Tokyo subway sarin massacre cult. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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09/14/2009 Another film by Akihiko Shiota, director of Harmful Insect. It had some moments but nothing special for me. I'm not sure what to think of Shiota at this point. I appreciate what he is trying to explore: disaffected, abused and neglected youth and all that, but I'm not convinced he's good at it yet. Harmful Insect would have been a lot less interesting without Aoi Miyazaki. I think Mitsuki Tanimura did a good job in Canary, Hoshi Ishida not so much, but his character was the brooding, doesn't-say-much type, which is difficult for a teenager to pull off (unless you're Aoi Miyazaki). I will confess that the cultural pointers were lost on me ... so there's that, I mean, if they were supposed to be specific. Cultural historians and professional film critics (and Japanese folks) might enjoy this film more than I did. I'm not giving upon Shiota but I'm also not ready to call him a director to look out for. See more Read all reviews
Canary

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Canary

Canary (2005) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Two emotionally neglected 12-year-olds flee from a doomsday cult called Aum Shinrikyo.
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Runtime
2h 12m