Han-ochi

I randomly picked this movie on a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo and I had a hard time not bursting into tears at times.

The movie demonstrates how difficult it is to judge the morality of some actions. It uses the case of a well- respected senior police officer who kills is beloved wife who suffers from Alzheimer's.

As always, the reality is much more complex than it appears on the surface and uncovering the truth will start a whirlwind of accusation and prejudices.

It also demonstrates the emotional costs of trying to find that moral truth instead of simply accepting ourselves as unable to do so.

I liked the overall Japanese aesthetics - slowness, silences, use of colors and shapes - that others may have interpreted as plot holes, but that reminded me of other Japanese movies like Woman in the dunes, or Rashômon.

This won a best film award in Japan, so we thought it might be worth watching. As it turned out, it wasn't a total waste of time, but quite a lot in this story strained credulity, sometimes verging on the absurd. And there was too much overwrought acting packed into two hours...particularly given that the Japanese are not generally given to emotional outbursts.

One of the better things about the film was a serious attempt to come to grips with Alzheimer's disease and the human tragedy it can entail. There are a few moments of humor here and there, and not all of the acting is bad. But overall, there are many better choices among Japanese dramas and mysteries.

In this emotionally tormenting drama we slowly discover reasons behind the main character actions but also follow the behavior of all other sides involved in the story (police, prosecutor, media, defense layer, judge, victim's sister) with accent on their own moral doubts, their integrity, courage and fears. In that sense director is trying to present the truth as puzzle where understanding every piece is necessary to comprehend it and because of complexity of problem that story analysis it becomes difficult to maneuver with every aspect at the same level.

Pace of the movie is slow, like director is giving us time to think about moral choice every character makes. And actors are overall great in presenting psychological torments they characters are experiencing. In the end their is no final answer concerning the choice around movie evolves, only that what we decide and try to live with it.