Cherry Blossoms tells the story of Rudi: terminally ill, he travels to Japan after the sudden death of his wife Trudi, in order to fulfill her dream of being a Butoh dancer, in the midst of the cherry blossom festival, a celebration of beauty, impermanence and new beginnings.
If you have ever seen Yasujiro Ozu's masterpiece Tokyo Story -- one of the greatest films ever made -- you may respond to Doris Dörrie's Cherry Blossoms, which is a kind of homage.
I can appreciate Dörrie's craft, and her sincerity, but the two-hour story of Rudi's evolution, which includes his unlikely friendship with a tiresome white-faced butoh performer (Aya Irizuki), meant nothing to me.
This may lack the understated pathos of Ozu's somber masterpiece, but it's still a moving meditation on aging and loss, and Wepper and Elsner are unforgettable.
