2281 ( )

Great story, fast paced, well-acted and mesmerizing. ( )

A cosy little family drama about an orphaned by living in secret at a train station, and the way his life is coincidentally but intrinsically linked to that of an old, disillusioned old man running a toy shop on the same station. Well scripted and superbly acted and with gorgeous visuals, my main complaint is that it is a good 20-30 minutes longer than the story warrants, with way too much time spent on slow, quiet moments where most could easily be halved without ruining their effects, as well as a couple of longer dream sequences that should have been drastically shorter. There are also some fairly pointless minor subplots about tertiary characters on the station which slow things down further, but I feel these all add a certain charm and depth to the film, and am willing to forgive the time spent on these. ( )

skipped through as just didn't get it ( )

So much of the period detail is really lovely and the tracking shots are extraordinary. The story is good, too, and it is about movies. ( )