One of the film techniques I struggle to get on with is when a scene dawdles.
The point has been made but the camera just lingers for a while for emphasis or reflection.
There are lots of instances in this movie, the latest in the Japan Foundation's Whose Film Is It Anyway? touring festival.
The result is that All Around Us, at more than 140 minutes feels very stretched.
Ryosuke Hashiguchi's film has an interesting enough premise. A young couple (Lily Franky and Tae Kimura) were talented art students but somehow he has drifted into working at a cobbler's shop and she is with an advertising agency.
She is pregnant but their relationship is floundering because of her fondness for rules and his dislike of any sort of regime.
Added to the scenario is her rather unhinged family and his friends who like to lead him astray.
The exploration of the couple's life over the best part of ten years is deep and interesting.
Along the way, they are engulfed by a tragedy which threatens to rip them apart and at the same time he gets a new job as a court artist.
His difficult home life runs in parallel with a day job which sees him working on some of Japan's most disturbing cases.
Franky had hardly acted when this came out in 2008. This fact makes her performance all the more staggering.
She runs the gamut of every emotion and is entirely convincing every time.
Equally, Kimura is totally believable as a devoted husband who, despite his best efforts, is struggling to keep his beloved wife from going off the rails and, consequently, his marriage together.
All Around Us is re-released as part of Whose Film Is It Anyway? which is currently screening in Belfast, to be followed by Glasgow, Bristol and Nottingham.
Laughs: a couple of sniggers
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: a couple of scenes.
Overall rating: 6/10