I try not to spoil things here on the Stop Button, but I’m going to make an exception for this film. It’s a fine example of what not to do....
Mayama is a psychology professor at a college. He is socially inept (the closest comparison is Montgomery Clift in Wild River, only more). He does not talk and he’s unable to make decisions. He’s also forty-one. He’s got a girlfriend who wants to marry him, but he hasn’t asked... Then, his long-lost daughter appears, only he doesn’t know she’s his daughter or that he even has one. She’s been stalking him for months, then they finally meet and her influence--while never telling him she’s his daughter--changes his life for the better.
The film’s about the two of them, then pretends to be about him and the girlfriend, invalidating the whole damn point of it. I’m kind of pissed off, not just because I need to get up at 4:30 in the morning and stayed up watching this one, but because it’s a well-made film. The guy who plays Mayama (Tsutsumi Shin’ichi) is amazing. So amazing I looked up his name.
The film just doesn’t know how to end... though I suppose having three screenwriters doesn’t help anything.
CREDITS
Directed by Nagasawa Masahiko; written by Masahiko, Hasegawa Yasuo and Misawa Keiko; director of photography, Fujisawa Junichi; edited by Okuhara Yoshityuki; music by Remedios; production designer, Yoshida Etsuko; produced by Kono Satoshi; released by Toho Company Ltd.
Starring Natsukawa Yui (Izumi), Tsutsumi Shin'ichi (Mayame) and Uchiyama Rina (Asami).
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