One of the most recent (and popular) entries in this year's Eiga Sai is In His Chart, better known in Japan as Kamisama no Karute (God's Medical Chart) based on the novel by the same name, and written by a practicing physician. A winner at the Japanese Box Office, it actually edged out Harry Potter as the number one movie during the week of its release.
Hearing about this movie sparked an interest in me because of my involvement with the medical profession, as well as being able to see a glimpse of the Japanese health care system.The film depicts an interesting dichotomy: overall, the standard of medical care is relatively high, but while large universal hospitals get the highest standard of care with state of the art facilities, other hospitals are often crowded, understaffed or both.
Ichito Kurihara, played by Arashi member Sho Sakurai, is a doctor in one of these latter hospitals. He deals with tons of outpatients every day, in often backbreaking, continuous work. As an internist, he sees a number of different cases: trauma cases at night, cases of people with failing livers, and patients with terminal illnesses. His duty nights are sleepless due to the sheer load of patients, and it's a stressful job. He is supported by his wife Haruna, who is a professional photographer, mostly of scenery and mountains.
Kurihara seems morose in the early part of the film and we are left to wonder why. As the film goes on, he meets a patient whose life he cannot save: a woman with inoperable gallbladder cancer. Through his interactions with her he finds a part of himself and he makes sense of what it really is to be a doctor.
The movie piles on the drama rather heavily and considering the subject matter it can elicit tears aplenty. Having experienced having patients with terminal illnesses in my own practice and training, I remembered all of those patients watching the film. There was no shortage of (manly) tears here. Also, there is an undercurrent theme of change and finding one's dreams that finds itself in the film. It is subtle but it resonates with the rest of the work.
The acting performances are good enough. I had my reservations at Sho's acting, but he was pretty good here. Aoi Miyazaki is Kurihara's wife Haruna... and what more can I say. She tends to pick the same types of roles but she does them very well. I'd like to see her experiment more in the future, however.
In His Chart is a good drama that doesn't fall into too sappy territory. Just get a box of tissues ready just in case.
No comments:
Post a Comment