Naoya and Katsuhiro are boyfriends, new in their relationship. Things are uneven at first—Naoya is open and free while Katsuhiro is cautious and closeted—but nothing compares to the chaos that arrives when Asako, a troubled woman with a history of psychiatric problems, abortions, and casual sex, asks Katsuhiro to conceive a child with her.
Hashiguchi uses the situation to evoke a Japan bustling atop an undercurrent of loneliness and isolation.
– Ernest Hardy,
L.A. Weekly,
7 Nov 2002
fresh:
Hashiguchi covers this territory with wit and originality, suggesting that with his fourth feature -- the first to be released in the U.S. -- a major director is emerging in world cinema.
– Kevin Thomas,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Nov 2002
fresh:
If the incidents are piled on one another without adding up to much, they provide telling social details.
– Stephen Holden,
New York Times,
7 Nov 2002
fresh:
Although the editing might have been tighter, Hush! sympathetically captures the often futile lifestyle of young people in modern Japan.
– V.A. Musetto,
New York Post,
8 Nov 2002
rotten:
Starts promisingly but disintegrates into a dreary, humorless soap opera.