Guilty - a Woman who made a Pact with the Devil

Guilty has an impressive premise – gentle-faced but cold-hearted Kanno Miho (aka Nogami Meiko) takes her revenge on men, who put her in jail 15 years ago on the charge of poisoning her brother-in-law and nephew. There’s no need to explain any further that this incident ruined the lives of her and her family – her sister took her life away and put her mother on the verge of sanity. In each episode she deals with yet another hideous persona leading a perfectly safe and successful life and she deals with them in such a refined way disguised in a perfectly understandable suicide that the viewer is left amazed and in awe.

Then suddenly a douche-faced but gentle detective Mashima (Tamaki Hiroshi) turns up in a rather unconventional way (he saves a dog she was taking care of from an inevitable death by drowning). He is intrigued by Meiko both professionally (he notices she is somehow connected to the series of recent puzzling suicides) and privately. When the story evolves from Meiko getting rid of the underlings to the episodes when Mashima and Meiko are getting close to the mastermind the quality plummets reaching its climax in ridiculously weak final episode.

Usually a faulty script is a KO mistake for a drama for me. It’s unfortunate because Guilty has some good points as well. As I mentioned in first paragraph it starts strong with gloomy atmosphere, enhanced by dimmed lights and dark colours (so very WOWOW-y rather the FujiTV). It's both exciting and intriguing to see how a pet salon worker Meiko puts on her cruel face and cleverly deals with the bad guys. It's enjoying to see Karasawa Toshiaki as the eccentric reporter, who devotes himself completely to pursuing the truth behind Meiko's case, living as a homeless and appearing from time to time with greasy hair and retro camera. Kichise Michiko as detective Mashima's sidekick and ex-girlfriend is also convincing and a wholesome character.

My point for this show

The soundtrack is the a I probably enjoyed even more than I expected. Orginal score was written by Sumitomo Norihito and features some really memorable pieces. The title song "Guilty" with english rapping by The New Classics that opens the whole series made me sway to the beat during each episode. Give it a listen here.

Ren'ai Shashin

A renown photographer, man going by nom de plume Shizuru Satonaka, tells the story behind him adopting a woman's name.

They met a few years back, while Makoto Segawa (Matsuda Ryuhei) was still a student, aspiring to become a professional photographer. From the first sight, he fell for the eccentric Satonaka Shizuru (Hirosue Ryoko), a persona of some notoriety on the campus. She moves in with him and begins sharing his passion for photography. It soon becomes evident that she has an innate affinity for it - her imperfect amateur shots show and tell more than Makoto's technically sound, but cold and impersonal photographs. Makoto is jealous of her which leads to them breaking up when Shizuru receives an award in a photography competition they take part in together.

Three years later Makoto receives a letter from Shizuru. She's gone to New York where she continues to hone her skills as a photographer. Soon he learns of a rumour that Shizuru has been dead for some time now, killed by an unknown assailant. Faced with this contradictory pieces of information, he travels to NY himself to ascertain the truth. What are the chances he'll find a missing person in the 10 million crowd?

While the intrigue thickens in New York, the movie takes a slump there, with lackluster performances by some of the foreign cast, over the top finale and at least one serious plot hole - the movie would end quite a bit sooner if someone was able to put two and two together. The more toned down Japanese part is of a notch higher quality.

In a fashion typical for the director, serious themes are freely mixed with comedic scenes. On a few occasions, the director uses satellite image zoom-in shots that will feature heavily in his SPEC series. I don't remember seeing them in Tsutsumi's earlier works, they might originate here.

The performances from Matsuda and Hirosue are solid, minus Matsuda's narration in English, which gets tiresome sooner rather than later. The movie is composed as an account of the events described during an interview, hence Matsuda uses English, however there is no apparent reason why the interviewer couldn't be Japanese. It would make life easier for both the audience and Matsuda himself.

Interesting watch - an uneven movie, strangely refreshing due to nonconformist plot - a story sad in a brutal way, quite unlike the typical Japanese melodrama. And a proof that a nail that sticks out gets hammered down - considering the 2006 remake.

My point for this movie

If watching this movie left you with a feeling that you have seen it somewhere before, you might be right. The movie's script was novelised by Ichikawa Takuji in Renai Shashin: Mō Hitotsu no Monogatari. The novel was remade as a movie in 2006 and released under the title Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru. The movie, starring Tamaki Hiroshi and Miyazaki Aoi as respectively Makoto and Shizuru, is known as Heavenly Forest in the west. Apart from the names and a very general outline of the story, both movies share little common ground.

Although I assumed the movie's Japanese title is a reference to Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu, another novel by the author which had its successful movie adaptation in 2004, it reportedly comes from a verse in its theme song, Otsuka Ai's Ren'ai Shashin.

Now, if you google for "Renai Shashin", you will mostly get references to the song and a single link to imdb site of Tsutsumi's movie. There's something half-profound, half-ironic in seeing a derived work based on a derived work based on a derived work outshining the original.

Liar Game: Reborn

When a fresh graduate Shinomiya Yu (Tabe Mikako) recieves a box full of banknotes and a black envelope, we don’t need any further explanation. The Liar Game starts again. Along with her, the notorious swindler and psychology prodigy Akiyama Shinichi Matsuda Shota), now a university professor, is pulled into the game.

But hey, where is Kanzaki Nao?

After two seasons in TV and a movie, the eponymous game is back in Liar Game: Reborn. Once again we will witness how twenty or so players risk heavy debt in a game of complex rules, shifting alliances and backstabbing. The rules seem simple at first, but carry hidden implications - finding and exploiting them will allow an underdog to turn the tables and break out of a seemingly losing situation. And rest assured, the tables will turn more than once, this one aspect of Liar Game did not change. Yet this movie does not live up to its promise.

As much as I like Tabe Mikako, she's no Toda. With her gone, it's now clear how much did the show depend on her character. Shinomiya Yu was announced to be a different, more able person than the stupid-naive Kanzaki Nao. Yet it doesn't show - she's just as naive and when she finally appears to act out of her own initiative, it soon ends up in a train wreck, just the right situation for Akiyama to come in and save the day.

A similar case can be made for Makiko Esumi and Ashida Mana, who play Omega and Alice, the masterminds behind this Liar Game. Ashida's appearance was another hyped one - she featured prominently in the trailer and had a dedicated short spin-off drama before the movie. With that much publicity one could expect that they'll be taking a major role in the events of the movie together with a large chunk of the screen time, at the very least giving Yokoya from the series a run for his money. And how did it end up? They have a total of maybe four scenes and play no active role in the game. They might just as well not have been there.

And the rest of the cast? We have series regulars Fukunaga (Suzuki Kosuke) and "Gold Tooth" Tanimura (Watanabe Ikkei) - another pair of sideline commentators. On the bright side, among the players we'll see Hamada Mari reprising her role as Sakamaki Mai from The Final Stage and Koike Eiko in what probably was the most decent performance among the main cast.

The movie features only a single game, "Modified Musical Chairs" and at two hours time it feels drawn out in the middle and ending prematurely in the finale. It seems as if they have originally planned a second game and a different finale, but ended up having to revise the script and had trouble tying up the loose ends.

Is it a worthwhile watch? If you saw the earlier Liar Games and are hungry for more - go ahead, it is ultimately more of the same. A little under-cooked, but most of the ingredients are in place - the games, the mood, the music and most of the cast. Otherwise, you're better off watching - or rewatching - the series. In my eyes, The Final Stage was a satisfying closure. Reborn doesn't bring anything new to the table. It doesn't bode well for the future of the series.

Food for thought

I'm not familiar with the manga and to what extent the drama storyline stays true to it, so I'm basing what I'm about to write on a Liar Game Wiki post. In the manga, "Modified Musical Chairs" was the fourth round of the original Liar Game Tournament. It was held after the "Contraband Game", and had Akiyama and Kanzaki Nao competing against Yokoya and Funakoshi Eiichiro's cult leader character Fukunaga was the leader of extras instead of Ikeda Tetsuhiro's character.

While the producers might have had little choice but to replace Toda's character, there seems to be no apparent reason for keeping Fukunaga out of the game he originally appeared in. I am no less puzzled as to why Yokoya was replaced - he appears in at least one scene in the movie (it may only be a flashback though).

Looking at the game's resolution makes the fact that this game is recycled from the original series story-line most visible. While "Modified Musical Chairs" was replaced in the drama series, its resolution was adapted and used in one of the replacements. Now hearing almost the same lines spoken out for the second time makes it feel distinctly out of place to anyone familiar with the drama series. You simply can't make the same Grand Revelation twice.

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What are your thoughts? Am I being needlessly critical here?

Nankyoku Tairiku

56 years ago, in November 1956, the first Japanese expedition set off to Antarctica. The crew, consisting of explorers, scientists as well as Karafuto-ken, Sakhalin Husky breed dogs, stayed there cross-winter. Next spring, due to bad conditions the crew was forced to leave the dogs behind and head back to Japan. Suddenly, the heroes who were the first ever Japanese to live in Antarctica were bashed harshly about leaving the animals for inevitable death. However, two dogs - siblings Taro and Jiro - survived South Pole's severe conditions by themselves and were later safely brought back to their homeland.

The story of Taro and Jiro is well known among both adults and children in Japan. Two Sakhalin Huskies are a bit of an icon actually (I daresay second to loyal Hachiko, whose figure is a meeting spot in Tokyo's Shibuya). Surely though, not everyone is fully aware of all the facts regarding the Cross-Winter expeditions. These were written down by Kitamura Taiichi, a member of the 1st and 3rd expedition. One of his books, „Nankyoku Ettotai: Taro Jiro no Shinjitsu” (“Antarctica Cross-Winter Expedition: the truth behind Taro and Jiro”), published in 1997 became a base for TBS 2011 tv-drama Nankyoku Tairiku.

However, don't expect the drama to be as faithful as a documentary. It's based on true events, but the scenario is actually fictional. Kuramochi Takeshi (Kimura Takuya), our main “human” hero, is created upon Kikuchi Tetsu – South Pole explorer and mountaineer, member of the first expedition, who was in charge of the dog sleds. The traces of Kitamura Taiichi can be found in the youngest member of the crew, university student researching aurora effects, Inuzuka (Yamamoto Yusuke). The facts and ficition regarding those two characters are mixed and if you're interested you might want to check that up.

The expectations towards the drama were very high. Star-studded cast was led by SMAP’s Kimura Takuya, whose well known for being picky in terms of his appearances in TV series and co-workers. You can expect high quality and ratings form the shows Kimutaku graces with his name (recent years though, the tendency seems to be a little falling from “high” to “decent” though). Unfortunately, Nankyoku Tairiku is one of the shows that leaves a dissapointment taste.

The characters in the First Cross Winter expedition members are varied and likeable and we got a sufficient introduction of their background to care for their safe return home. Their families waiting and following the news back home are also depicted very well. Also the Antarctica glaciers (filmed on Hokkaido) and post-war Japan backgrounds are picturesque and believable, though from time to time we get a little over the top CG effect that ruins the overall feeling. The South Pole continent is wild and dangerous, the impression enhanced by the music, especially the first chords of Nakajima Miyuki’s (another big namein the credits!) ending theme “Kouya yori” that strikes in the right moment for a major cliffhanger.

That's all for the good. In terms of scenario, the show is draggy. At one point it gets close to absurd when all characters repeat the same lines over and over again for half and episode or more and we go nowhere. Weaker points turn up throughout the whole series and might work as a turnoff.

My point for this show

The cameos - Nakama Yukie appears as Kuramochi Takeshi's wife. Her appearance is as short as one glimpse of a black and white photo. And you wonder and wonder if you get to see her again. Musician Miyazawa Kazufumi (from The BOOM, author of international hit Shima-Uta) appears as Iwashiro, ficitonal leader of the second expedition.

Smuggler

Wannabe actor, Kinuta (Tsumabuki Satoshi) takes on a job as a mover - one who gets rid of inconvenient corpses - after his debt is bought out by an underground banker. He joins Joe (Masatoshi Nagase), a hard-boiled, laconic veteran of the trade, and an older chatterbox of a man who goes only by the moniker Gramps (Gashuin Tatsuya). Meanwhile, two legendary assassins, Vertebrae (Ando Masanobu) and Viscera (Ryushin Tei), are hired by the Chinese to deal with a Yakuza boss, Tanuma. Joe's team is tasked with disposing the bodies after the bloodbath that ensues. That's the first time their path will cross with the assassin's, but certainly not the last, because the angered Yakuza are now aiming for Vertebrae and Viscera's heads...

This is the premise of Ishii Katsuhito's 2011 movie Smuggler, based on Manabe Shohei's manga. The director assembled a pretty impressive cast - apart from the already mentioned, we'll see Mitsushima Hikari, Matsuyuki Yasuko and Kohinata Fumiyo with cameo appearances by several familiar faces.

When I sat down to this one, I expected a movie akin to Samehada Otoko to Momojiri Onna, with its comic-book violence and Pulp Fiction-like dialogues. This one however is noticeably darker, grittier and brutal then Samehada..., falling halfway to Kitano's Outrage with its realistic depictions of violence and gang power struggles. There will be skulls cracking in slow motion and lengthy, detailed torture scenes - the movie is not something to watch to the dinner.

I'm on fence with this one. For one thing, it's a well made piece of cinema, but the excessive violence left me twitching for a substantial part of the movie. Certainly there are people it will appeal to, for me it was too much. I find the more quirky Ishii, like Cha no Aji or Naisu no Mori, far more enjoyable.

My point for the movie

Among many cameo appearences by such Ishii veterans as Kiyokawa Hitoshi, Morishita Yoshiyuki and Terajima Susumu, there's also an appearence by Osugi Ren and Matsuda Shota as a pair of policemen - much like Tsumabuki's own appearence with Oguri Shun in Surely Someday. What's with all the policeman cameos in Japanese movies? Yoji Tanaka (another one from Samehada... cast) must have made it his hobby - I remember him from Udon, and looking at his imdb page, he must have scored a good three or four by himself. I have a hunch that I might have seen some odd policemen somewhere else too, but I can't pinpoint the titles of the top of my head

What are your feelings on Smuggler? Alternatively, have you seen any suspicious policemen around here somewhere?

Suteki na Kakushidori

Written and directed by Mitani Kouki, Suteki na Kakushidori (Lovely Candid Shot) is a 1 hour 30 minutes TV Special made to promote the upcoming movie Suteki na Kanashibari – Once in a blue moon. The story has no connection whatsoever, but we can see the same group of actors that appear in the movie as well. The trademark Mitani humour is same as well.

The construction of the plot is simple – tomboyish Mie (Fukatsu Eri) works as a hotel concierge and has to deal with ridiculous request by the guests from the suite. Each guest has their own episode sewed together by short commentary scenes in the lobby, where Mie discuss the guests’ background with her superior.

The main highlight are the guests – I personally liked the circus acrobat (so adorably dumb Kusanagi Tsuyoshi) and cooking charisma (Takeuchi Yuuko) episodes best, but they are all equally entertaining. The director himself also appears, obviously as an approval seeking movie director.

My point for this show

If you liked the setting, try Uchouten Hotel (Suite Dreams) – a movie from 2006 also written and directed by Mitani Kouki with as usual exceptional all-star cast and gallery of characters you can’t get bored with. It’s more complete as a story than rather chopped in pieces Suteki na Kakushidori.

Kuruma-isu de Boku wa Sora wo Tobu

Recently, I have seen Kuruma-isu de boku wa sora wo tobu, a TV special broadcasted during NTV 24 Hours Television. For those, who encounter the term for the first time, let me break it for you: 24 Hours Television is an annual charity event, a live marathon programme that actually runs for 24 hours more or less. Each year, a drama special (often based on real life events, books, diaries) is prepared, often starring some of the most popular names of the season. We can expect good/popular actors (that’s not always coming in pair), overcoming one’s disability or illness theme and unfortunately a mediocre artistic value.

Kuruma-isu de boku wa sora wo tobu (I will soar the sky on my weelchair) is exactly that. An average show about a shady fellow Yasuyuki (bleached Ninomiya Kazunari) who due to his own stupidity (he jumps from the rooftop and fractures his spine) is bound to the wheelchair for the rest of his life. Yasu has another illness – a weak relationship with his mother (Yakushimaru Hiroko), at first glance a carefree woman who has an inkling towards abusive men. During his hospital days, Yasu meets other people, who help him mature – an able counselor (Iseya Yusuke), shop clerk (Ueto Aya), little boy in terminal stage of cancer (Suzuki Fuku) and a teenager on a wheelchair who triggers a major upturn in the drama (Ikematsu Sousuke).

I wish this special had something more to it. Unfortunately, it’s more “educational” than artistic (as I mentioned before, it's a common feature for the 24 Hour Television franchise). There are strong scenes, that will probably last long in the viewer's memory, like Yasu’s visit to the suicide tourist spot. Truthfully, I think the whole story could be much better if the writers skipped Suzuki Fuku’s and Ueto Aya’s plot. The former was good, but quite typical, whereas the whole story of the latter was just shallow. Instead I wish someone came up with the idea to concentrate more on the time Yasu spend with the counseller. Ninomiya and Iseya are more than capable of giving us a great, emotional story just by sitting down and sharing a well-written dialogue.

Kuruma-isu de boku wa sora wo tobu is based on a book written by Hasegawa Yasuzou "Inochi no Counseling" (Counselling of Life). Hasebe Yasuyuki (notice the similarity) is more or less the author himself - now famous therapist being called "Black Jack of Psychology", bound to the weelchair. I haven't read the book, but I believe that the therapist Hasegawa Yasuzou met during his hospital days must have had a big impact on him to start studying psychology. That's another reason I wish the drama team developed that plot, instead of adding a number character whose stories couldn't be fully explored.

My point for the show

Yakushimaru Hiroko, who plays Yasu’s mother, was highly appraised for her portrayal of Ikeuchi Aya’s mom in 1 litre of tear. The actress was outstanding as a supportive and strong mother, who stood beside her daughter and helped her accept and live the small number of days she still had left with dignity. Here she is a completely different, but also three-dimensional character and it can be quite interesting to compare.

Kourei (Séance)

Some time ago I have reviewed Kurosawa Kiyoshi's Shokuzai. While writing the article I have realized, much to my surprise, that I have yet to see any of the director's movies. Since then, I was looking for a chance to see one of his movies. And it's hard to find a better occasion to watch a ghost movie than Halloween evening.

Junko (Fubuki Jun) is living a modest, monotonous live in a countryside with her husband, a sound engineer (Yakusho Koji). You'd think nothing out of ordinary, apart from the fact that she is a spiritual medium. She can see ghosts, communicate with the dead or gain information about people and events by touching their belongings. This is as much a gift as a curse to her - while she can help people who consult her, she's unable to hold a regular job due to her extrasensory perception kicking in at the wrong moment - as depicted in the scene when she takes up a part-time job at a family restaurant. Moreover, she broods over the fact that - due to her abilities being in the most part involuntary and hard to control - she can't prove them and is looked upon suspiciously by others. An unexpected chance arrives when a psychology student she was in contact with invites her to join an ongoing police investigation. A girl has been kidnapped. An accident has put the supposed kidnapper into coma and the trail runs cold. The police is skeptical, but will follow any clue if it can bring them to the kidnapped girl. Junko sees this as a chance to prove her abilities to the world and turn around her mundane live. A handkerchief the police passes her allows her to trace the girl's whereabouts. Much to her surprise, the girl turns up unconscious and malnourished in a trunk her husband takes with him when he goes out in the wild on recording sessions. Instead of handing the girl over to the police at the spot and likely making her husband a prime suspect, Junko concocts a plan that will put her in the spotlight as a spiritualist that has solved the case for the police. The events take the turn for the worse when the girl they now hold in custody dies and begins to haunt them...

Kourei is a 2000 TV movie loosely based on Séance on a Wet Afternoon, British film from 1964 starring Kim Stanley and Richard Attenborough. Either that, or they share the common source material - novel by Mark McShane. While they do share the outline of the story, the differences are fundamental and run deep, if the article on the book that I base this opinion on is correct.

In the novel, Myra - Junko's novel counterpart - is the one who kidnaps the child in the first place. She wants to establish herself as a first-class spiritualist. She's also the breadwinner of the family, as the séances she holds are the main income of the family. The husband Bill is unemployed and passive, unable and afraid to talk his wife out of her plan. Myra's motivation is her ambition, Junko however, while also seeking recognition, is dragged into the case more or less by chance and large part of the reason for tricking the police is her desire to put her husband out of suspicion. Myra is also a fraud, while in Junko's case we are led to believe she is the real thing. It also seems as if Yakusho's character had more backbone than Bill, though I don't know how Bill's character develops with the story, so I might be wrong here.

Much like in Shokuzai, the music is minimal, mostly ambient and used in the scenes depicting the supernatural. The exception again is a track played on bagpipes, much like in the 3rd episode of Shokuzai, used in one particularly unsettling scene.

The film's cast features several other well known faces - Kusanagi Tsuyoshi as the psychology student, Ittoku Kishibe as his professor, Kitaro as the police detective and Osugi Ren in a small role as a restaurant customer.

The pacing is slow and much of the film's value is conveyed through the mood and atmosphere, between the lines. Also, don't count on the movie to scare you senseless - it was a plus for me, as I'm not a horror person, but taking this movie for a token asian horror in lieu of Ringu, Dark Water or Ju-on might leave you disappointed.

My point for this movie

The scary scenes are nice and all, but the real strength of this movie lies in the depiction of the relationship between the wife and the husband. They seem distant from each other, much like any other stereotypical Japanese marriage. But the same can be said about them being distant from the rest of the world, the wife due to her abilities, the husband due to his aloof personality and solitary nature of his work. Perhaps it's this quality that brings them together. Before the incident, we see them together eating dinner, engaged in small talk about the husband's work. We see the husband coming home after work while the wife is holding a séance for a customer, we see him lying down and breathing out a cloud of fog when she's conducting the ritual. Yet they do not talk about it later, nor do they speak anything about her powers until they find the girl. I assumed he might not know about them, and even if he does, it will somehow cause a rift between them. It doesn't happen. It seems he accepted her, knowing about them all along, and will go to great lengths in order to protect her.

What's your favourite Kurosawa Kiyoshi movie? What would you recommend next? Cure? Charisma? Or maybe something entirely different?

Don Quixote

Shirota, a terribly wishy-washy fellow, works at a Child Care Consultation Centre. Apparently, he’s doing it of a calling, although his results do not show. One day, he happens to be in the same block of flats as a bunch of Sabashima group yakuza led by boss Sabashima himself and thanks to some evil (or good?) forces of nature (under a form of dark fog) the minds of these two are exchanged.

Now Shirota and Sabashima have to come to terms with what happened to them. They decide to work together until the riddle behind this mysterious body swap is solved. It’s enormously fun to watch how once timid Shirota (Matsuda Shota) becomes less-inteligent macho and the former yakuza boss (Takahashi Katsumi) now acts all ninny nanny in tight fashionable suit and needs to handle not only his own underlings but also enemies in the gangster world. Shirota, on the other hand, seems as if he couldn’t care less about the children he needs to take care of, while in fact he’s unconventional attitude is a blessing for the kids and a fresh breath of air to his office. Eventually they become something like best friends, supporting each other and changing their lives for better.

The Don Quixote series is full of funny gags with occasional tearful moments (if you’re into stories about family issues). Two leads did an amazing job pulling out the double roles (especially Matsuda!) and there is a bunchful of supporting actors that are like a cherry on the top: including Kobayashi Sachiko as Shirota’s boss, Matsushige Yutaka as Sabashima’s firstman and Miyake Hiroki as Child Care older colleague, Nishi-yan. However, in terms of storyline, not all episodes are equally good and I found some of them draggy, a common threat of a TV series. If squeezed the essence could be a perfect comedy.

The connection to Cervantes' "Don Quixote" is, to be honest, a little vague to me (yes, they actually did a theatre in the center, and all... And yes, Shirota and Sabashima are like a knight and his faithful sidekick), but the Spanish opening is great and sticks to your brain for long.

My point for this drama 

I you find body swap theme interesting, and I bet you do, try some other shows that turn around it. In Tenkousei - Sayonara Anata, a 2007 remake of an older movie,  two high-schoolers have their bodies replaced. One of them will even have to fight with the illness of the other. Similar theme was introduced also in a 1992 drama Houkago. In Papa to Musume no Nanokakan, it’s a father and a daughter who have to be one another for seven days. A soon to be released movie Himitsu no Akko-chan (based on a popular classic shoujo anime) tells the story of a 11-year-old who can transform into an adult. In also a drama turned movie Himitsu it’s the soul of the mother that enters her daughter’s body after a serious accident. And I bet the list can be much longer. The number of remakes is the best proof how prolific the motif can actually be.

Shokuzai

A primary school girl, Adachi Emiri, is raped and murdered. Four of her friends, who were playing with her on the schoolyard that day, saw the murderer face-to-face, yet cannot do anything to identify him. Emiri's mother, Asako, invites the girls to a birthday party held in Emiri's memory. Sitting opposite them at the table, she confronts them with the following words:

"I won't forgive any of you. Find the murderer no matter what it takes. Otherwise, atone in ways that will satisfy me. I’ll never forget about you until that is done. You won't escape from the atonement."

Fifteen years later there are still no hints to the identity of the criminal. The case ran cold, yet the memories of the incident haunt the four survivors, their lives bent and twisted around these curse-like words.

Shokuzai is a story of vengeance and atonement, directed by acclaimed director Kurosawa Kiyoshi and based on a novel by Minato Kanae, the author of Kokuhaku and the currently airing Koukou Nyushi. The five episode mini-series was produced by WOWOW, a broadcaster with a reputation for the dark, grim and gritty, and they prove this reputation is well deserved. The first four episodes follow the stories of each of the surviving girls, connected only by the past that left them scarred, and the person of Asako (Koizumi Kyoko), always in black, appearing before them like a wraith.

In the first episode, Aoi Yuu plays a beautician with a distrust towards men, who finds herself in an emotionally abusive relationship. Second episode shows a story of a strict teacher (Koike Eiko), who rises and falls as a local hero after an incident in which she violently deals with an assailant on the school grounds. Ando Sakura stars in the third episode as a social recluse, who grows suspicious of her idolized brother's (an rare unsympathetic Kase Ryo) relationship with his own stepdaughter. In the fourth episode Ikewaki Chizuru plays a florist getting back at her sister after years of being sidetracked and taken advantage of. Will any of them break free from the past and Asako's curse? Or is there a chance the murderer will be caught, however slim it may be? The fifth, final episode will show. Or will it?

In terms of realization, the series is excellent. Tension is achieved with minimal means, music is non-existent for the most part or reduced to ambient, with one notable exception being the bagpipes in Ando Sakura's episode. The visuals are typical for a WOWOW show - sharp, cold and realistic. I particularly liked the use of flashbacks in each episode. They showcase different aspects of the day of the murder, that's for sure, but they also play a more subtle role. By continuously, almost nauseously, repeating certain scenes, like the scene where the girls meet the murderer or the quoted scene at the birthday party, the viewer himself feels as if he was constantly reliving the past the same way the characters do.

It's not an easy watch, yet it's certainly worthwhile. With so many dramas being simply a pleasant way to pass the time, it's good to have series like Shokuzai and broadcasters like WOWOW, consistently going against the flow.

My point for this show

You don't often see movie directors of this calibre getting into dramas, but when you do, you're in for a treat. Koreeda Hirokazu is the man behind currently airing Going My Home - we'll see how it will proceed, but the first episode was solid. SABU made Troubleman, a puzzlebox of a series that deserves more attention than it's getting. You also don't often see TV series on Venice Film Festival, which was the case with Shokuzai, either.

Haru - Unforgettable day in Korea

"Haru – Unforgettable day in Korea" is a interesting mixture of genres. It’s a drama special, no doubt, but above all it’s a clever commercial, a promotional video of Korea with everything we might find attractive in the country. We can see action, breathtaking backgrounds, tradition and contemporary. Beautiful ladies and handsome guys, music bands, a tableful of Korean cuisine, fashionable shops and trendy jobs.

The plot is cut in small pieces, all of them connected somehow to one another. A scriptwriter (Chuno’s Lee Da-hae) writes her stories while travelling on the train. There, she meets a photographer (Kim Bum) and enchanted by him, she gets off to hang out in a beautiful old town. Taking a stroll, she tells him the story she would like to work on, of two lovers-assassins who keep their professions a secret from each other. Meanwhile,  her boyfriend, an actor (Tohoshinki’s leader Yunho) loses a ring while shooting some action scenes and dashes of to find a same replacement.

The story makes no sense and is only an excuse for all the eye-candy and product placement. Solely as a promotional material though it’s clever and funny. Being a little shorter it would be a great show to screen on international Expo. As a drama it's nothing more than a pretty package with no inside.

My point for this show

The show was actually produced by the Korean National Tourism Organization to honor the 2010 Visit Korea year available to the viewers through Haru website. I tried to compare this sort of national promotion with what we can meet in Japan. The most interesting examples for me are the "theme planes", airplanes painted with certain characters (like Pokemon) or idols (the Arashi plane). On international routes such a vehicle definitely catches one's eye. On a side note, the yearly Tokyo Drama Awards, that were announced just recently, are supposed to be granted to acts that could represent Japan on the international TV series market.

What are your thought about dramas are promotional videos? Share your thoughts with us.

Saikou no jinsei no owarikata - Ending Planner

Japanese popculture deals with the topic of death and final partings (be it sudden or not) in various ways. We have, one could say, a whole genre of dealing-with-terminal-ilnesses melodramas with better and worse examples inside.Usually though the story ends when the character passes away and nobody is trying to explain to the viewer what is happening with them (or should I say, their bodies) afterwards.When I first heard the news about the 2011 winter drama "Saikou no jinsei no owarikata" (lit.The ending to a perfect life), I was intrigued. A story about a funeral parlour with Japan's favourite idols (Johnny's Yamashita Tomohisa, AKB's Maeda Atsuko)? A combination that was promising but also risky.

In 2008 the movie "Okuribito" (internationally know as "Departures"), a bittersweet story of an undertaker in a provincional town, outclassed the competition in the run for the Oscar. It also paved the way for the likes of "Ending Planner". Unfortunately though, there's nothing to compare.

"Saikou no jinsei no owarikata" starts when the siblings of Ihara-ya, a small, traditional funeral house, need to the face the sudden death of their father and decide about the future of the family business. The eldest son (Sorimachi Takashi) is away from home, not keeping in touch. The second, Masato (Yamashita Tomohisa) leaves current workplace to help his sister (Maeda Atsuko) with the Ihara-ya (of course, after agonizing a lot under dramatic circumstances). The youngest brother and sister (Johnny's JR Chinen Yuri and Ono Ito) are still students, with their own complexes and problems that need to be solved during the show. Masato encounters also two people that will have strong impact on his story from now on: a police detective, Yuki (Eikura Nana) and an old man who creeps into his garden to talk about philosophical issues (Yamazaki Tsutomu).

Each episode deals with a different story of a final parting that the Ihara-ya organizes, usually requiring a small detective mystery to be solved by the Yuki and Masapyon, how she calls Yamashita's character. In the background we have Ihara family issues and one big mystery arch, which is a good thing although one could expect better ending.

The Ihara siblings are nowhere near to "Hitotsu yane no shita" Kashiwagi family, in terms of depiction and acting.In fact only Sorimachi and Yamapi are likeable and the fact that they are actually very similar and could go as brothers (never noticed that before!) is a big plus. You should also keep an eye on Yamazaki Tsutomu as old Iwata-san, as Yamapi himself mentions him as his biggest idol and working with him as his dream and challenge (they have meet already on the set of "Kurosagi"), but for me the revelation with this character is a let down.

My point for this show  

Though not much, some interesting facts about how the undertaker business goes in Japan is being introduced to us in the drama. We can see how Ihara-ya struggles with much bigger competition, how it organizes a meeting with local dwellers to explain to them the points about organizing one's own funeral and - particulary interesting - how they keep good terms with the police to get faster information about the new bodies that are being brought to the mortuary for exchanging of "purification" gift (money or coupons).   

What are your thoughts about the show? Feel free to start a discussion in the comment box.