While I can respect this film and the job everyone associated with it did, I must also say that watching it was thoroughly unpleasant and I just can't see anyone would want to subject themselves to watching it. Watching it was a chore and I could only watch a few films like this before I began contemplating suicide--and I am a very happy person! In fact, and I am VERY serious here, I do not recommend that anyone who is struggling with depression--it is that intensely depressing and will likely create a great sense of hopelessness in the viewer. Don't say I didn't warn you.
The film begins with a narrator interviewing a middle-aged woman and man separately. It seems that the woman is the single parent of a teen who had stabbed a classmate to death. Many of the questions seemed to point the blame at the mother and it's obvious that the lady struggles with feelings of guilt concerning this. It isn't that she necessarily feels that she is responsible for the senseless killing--at least not directly. But she also feels a huge burden to meet with the victim's family to apologize for the killing.
As for the victim's family, there is only the father. His wife had died some time back from cancer. When asked about his willingness to meet with the perpetrator's mother, he is adamant that he has no interest. He says he understands intellectually that the mother is not responsible--but he wants nothing to do with her or her apology.
A year passes. From this point on in the film, there is no narration or dialog. It makes up the vast majority of the film and consists of showing both parents going through there very, very repetitive daily lives. These lives consist of repetition and have no joy, no change, no hopes...nothing. You see both go through the same routine day in and day out with no joy or variation. Oddly, unlike most films, instead of showing a typical montage, it shows EVERYTHING each day--the tedium and the routine. It does this day after day after day and frankly, I think it would be okay to turn on the fast-forward through this! The mother's hair has now grown over her face--as if she's trying to hide from the world. The man is just as emotionally constricted and miserable--eating every meal alone and not interacting with anyone socially. What they both don't realize is that although they both moved from Tokyo to get away from their sad past, they both have moved to the same housing development in Hokkaido. Well into this routine, the mother realizes the father lives there and tries to talk with him. He refuses and avoids her again and again and again. The movie ends.
As I said, I can respect the film makers and actors. It replicates misery and depression very, very well and shows how when a murder occurs, it is not just the victim that dies--as both parents are like the living dead. But to maintain this for 102 minutes is just dreadful and like a marathon of misery. Don't say I didn't warn you.
The film begins with a narrator interviewing a middle-aged woman and man separately. It seems that the woman is the single parent of a teen who had stabbed a classmate to death. Many of the questions seemed to point the blame at the mother and it's obvious that the lady struggles with feelings of guilt concerning this. It isn't that she necessarily feels that she is responsible for the senseless killing--at least not directly. But she also feels a huge burden to meet with the victim's family to apologize for the killing.
As for the victim's family, there is only the father. His wife had died some time back from cancer. When asked about his willingness to meet with the perpetrator's mother, he is adamant that he has no interest. He says he understands intellectually that the mother is not responsible--but he wants nothing to do with her or her apology.
A year passes. From this point on in the film, there is no narration or dialog. It makes up the vast majority of the film and consists of showing both parents going through there very, very repetitive daily lives. These lives consist of repetition and have no joy, no change, no hopes...nothing. You see both go through the same routine day in and day out with no joy or variation. Oddly, unlike most films, instead of showing a typical montage, it shows EVERYTHING each day--the tedium and the routine. It does this day after day after day and frankly, I think it would be okay to turn on the fast-forward through this! The mother's hair has now grown over her face--as if she's trying to hide from the world. The man is just as emotionally constricted and miserable--eating every meal alone and not interacting with anyone socially. What they both don't realize is that although they both moved from Tokyo to get away from their sad past, they both have moved to the same housing development in Hokkaido. Well into this routine, the mother realizes the father lives there and tries to talk with him. He refuses and avoids her again and again and again. The movie ends.
As I said, I can respect the film makers and actors. It replicates misery and depression very, very well and shows how when a murder occurs, it is not just the victim that dies--as both parents are like the living dead. But to maintain this for 102 minutes is just dreadful and like a marathon of misery. Don't say I didn't warn you.