Mamoru Hosoda's latest film, Mirai, begins with an overhead shot of a city that slowly meanders toward a peculiar house, the setting of most of the film. It is a perfect visual representation of what the movie strives to portray: the plasticity of fate, the flow of time, the place and evolution of a family among generations.
The film follows Kun, a young toddler, as he deals with the fact that he is no longer an only child. His newborn sister, Mirai, is a source of frustration to the child, and he acts like children do, doing things and saying hurtful words that he does not have the full capacity to understand. But then another Mirai appears, this time from the future, and she's here to teach him a lesson about growing up and being a good brother.
Kun's adventures could all be made up, taking place entirely within the confines of his imagination, or they could be real. But whether it is real or not is beside the point compared to the lessons his adventures impart: lessons on humility, family responsibility and the reality of being a new brother.
And, in an step forward from films such as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006), Mirai is about our relationship to time and how it relates to our own interpersonal bonds. We grow older each day, faster than we can sometimes comprehend. And in the context of our families, we are a collection of stories, tapestries composed of individual decisions that resonate through generations.
The Crimes That Bind is the big finale to a years-long adaptation that started with the 2010 TV series Shinzanmono, and continued on with a couple of feature films and TV specials. Based on the popular series of novels by Keigo Higashino, the overall story is about detective Kyoichiro Kaga, a veteran detective who solves difficult and complex mysteries.
This film begins with a death that is very personal to Kaga: in fact, it is his raison d' etre for moving to Nihonbashi in the first place. The movie then segues to the real mystery, the discovery of a corpse in an apartment that is not hers. Somehow, these two events are related, but we are left to wonder why.
The mystery is engaging and complex, with the pieces of the puzzle only gaining true form during the film's melodramatic climax. The movie has a penchant for on-screen 'narration' that gives the film a sort of formal, procedural flavor. Everyone involved is excellent, but for this installment it is Nanako Matsushima and Fumiyo Kohinata who get to shine in their respective roles, even though they appear in a fraction of the film.
The film tries its best to be cinematic - a confrontation scene between Hiroshi Abe's Kaga and Nanako Matsushima's character is particularly striking - but it remains beholden to its television roots. Regardless, fans of Shinzanmono or of Higashino's novels will find much to appreciate here.
And finally we have The 8-Year Engagement, a romantic melodrama that sounds so unbelievable until you realize that it is actually based on a true story.
The gist of it: a man and a woman get together, fall in love, woman contracts an extremely rare medical condition, man turns out to be a saint and stubbornly sticks with her until she gets better, but problems ensue.
It could've been ridiculous if it weren't executed so sincerely. Tao Tsuchiya is excellent here, even though she spends most of the film in a hospital bed. She makes the best of her character's flaws, compared to Takeru Sato's character, who is so saintlike and flawless that he should be canonized and given the Nobel Peace Prize for three straight years. I kid of course, as Sato manages to bring a bit of gravitas to a character who loves purely, with all his heart, and without regret. It's par for the course for Zeze, a director who has dabbled in both mainstream productions and pinku eiga, whose works focus on the details of human relationships.
The medicine in this film is well-researched, from initial confinement until rehabilitation. It has to be, since it's based on real experiences. This film is good for a little cry, appropriate for those in need of some pure, pure love.
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