Dearest (2012) [Film Review]

Dearest; or, Love Conquers All

This week’s review will be about the last movie in the acting career of the late Ken Takakura, directed by his frequent collaborator Yasuo Furuhata.

Release Info

Directed by: Yasuo Furuhata Starring: Ken Takakura, Yūko Tanaka, Kōichi Satō, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi
Language: Japanese Original Title: Anata e Runtime: 110 min

Plot

The film tells the story of Eiji Kurashima (Ken Takakura), an aged prison guard mourning his wife who has recently passed away. Shortly after the cremation of her body, Kurashima receives a letter in which his wife asks him to scatter her ashes in her hometown in Nagasaki Prefecture. In consequence, Kurashima sets out on a picturesque and phantasmagorical journey through Japan, recalling the memories of his wife, and meeting a variety of interesting strangers along the way.

Something more than just a love story

From the synopsis above, you may infer that Dearest is just another standard melodrama about getting over the loss of a loved one. Well, I beg to disagree. In this picture, Yasuo Furuhata managed to connect together elements of a road film, a drama, and a human interest story. The character of Mr Kurashima is a standard everyman who spent the majority of his life in loneliness until one day, he finally discovered his true love. Yet, after the wife's passing, he goes on a journey that the two always wanted to make; and I’ve got to say that Kurashima’s travel is taken almost straight from the pages of Haruki Murakami’s novels. We not only get an overview of Japan’s most beautiful tourist landmarks, but also meet several bizarre yet extraordinary individuals who are just as lost in their daily existence as Kurashima.

Dearest marks the last performance of Ken Takakura in his acting career (unfortunately, he died in 2014); however, just as in his previous works, he gives a magnificent performance also in this picture. Although it is pretty odd to see an 80-year-old prison guard still on duty and married to a woman in her 60s, Takakura makes it believable and hence adds more reality into Mr Kurashima’s character, making him seem more tragic.

The supporting actors also did a fine job, especially Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Kōichi Satō as Kurashima’s “friends on the road”. Yūko Tanaka as Mrs Kurashima was also convincing, however, she appears only in flashbacks. Even Takeshi Kitano appears in two scenes and gives a solid performance as always. The music score is calm and soothing, but at times forgettable, constituting the only disadvantage of the whole film.

Recommendations

I recommend this film to everyone who would like to spend a quiet evening, see a simple story with a bit of a twist, and have a cathartic experience. I even tend to believe that Dearest outweighs Ken Takakura’s other travel film Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles in terms of screenplay and scenography. If you like Yasuo Furuhata’s other films or the uplifting style of Haruki Murakami novels, Dearest is definitely the movie for you. Watch it and it will leave you in high spirits.

Overall score: 9/10