Suspect X

I am not a big fan of movies which are based on books. Just look at what they did with Harry Potter and others (LOTR is an exception). So I wasn't much excited when my friend told me it was based on a book and I tried not to watch it. He practically had to make me sit through the first 15 minutes of the movie to make sure I was intrigued. Well, I am glad he made me watch it because Suspect X is one the best mystery thriller movies I've watched in the last couple of years.

Suspect X is a story of a murdered husband, a wife, a daughter and two geniuses. Manabu Yukawa is a scientist who helps out the police once in a while. And Tetsuya Ishigami is Mathematician who lives next door to the wife of the murdered man. Both have their reasons to be involved. The story is written tightly. The cinematography is hauntingly beautiful.

The strongest point of the movie is the interactions of the two geniuses. When they are there talking, you don't want to miss a second of their conversation. They are not conniving and trying to out do each other. They are just old friends talking. And that's what makes this movie so special.

I highly recommend it to those who love Hitchcock movies.

Note: I don't know Japanese and watched this movie with English Subtitles. It in no way affected the mood of the movie.

I first saw this in 2010. Revisited it recently. Some movies indeed deserves a second viewing before being reviewed.

Suspect X is the first of several film adaptations of the novel The Devotion of Suspect X.

This is the Japanese version n has some amazing performances by the actors. I ain't aware of the names but really terrific performances.

I loved the opening scene where a physicist solves a crime via the explanation of physics.

The plot - Yasuko Hanaoka, a recently divorced, single mother owns a restaurant and she has a regular customer, Tetsuya Ishigami, her next door neighbor, a tad reclusive, but brilliant mathematics teacher.

Buying lunches from Yasuko's restaurant is the brightest part of Tetsuya's day.

Things take a sudden change when Yasuko's abusive ex-husband shows up one night to extort money from Yasuko but is killed by Yasuko and her daughter.

The acting n cinematography is top notch but the editing is not upto mark. There r scenes which are very slow n not required.

I didn't like the ending.

First of all let me admit that I haven't read the book "Devotion of Suspect X" upon which this film was based. Apart from few loose ends in the movie about the characters (could be director's fault or not), this movie fed me with surprises one after another. Loved the way the story unfolded with these suspense elements which make me feel shame that I haven't read the book. The suspense at the Climax was a shock and is totally unsuspected .

This movie is copied/inspired/plagiarized in India with the name "Dhrishyam" which is again going to be inspired to another language from the same country.

Any fan of thrillers should be no stranger to the name of Higashino. This film is of course a brilliant adaptation of the book. The tension has been created right from the start and maintained throughout the film. There have always been misguiding trivialites that lead you deep into the woods, or snow-clad mountains. You can sense there will be some more twists and turns in it while watching the plot unfolds.

This movie is one of the best crime thriller I've seen in it some time. As soon as the lead characters are shown, I'd the idea that this is going to be a different ride. The movie doesn't waste anytime getting into the plot which thickens and becomes interesting as the movie goes on. The dynamics between the two master-minds is the highlight of this one.

The plan for the cover-up is brilliant. We feel that the cover-up takes care of all the things, or so it seems. We are shown a couple of clues on to how the cover-up is done but it's subtle. If we focus on the movie, we can spot these and then piece the plot together before it's actually revealed. This makes the movie even more interesting. As the movie reach its final act, we see a significant change of tone to focus more on the emotions. The climax will have a deep impact on you.

It's must watch for all the movie lovers and especially for crime thriller fans.