Ashita no kioku (2006)

Director:

Yukihiko Tsutsumi

Writers:

Hiroshi Ogiwara (novel)
Hakaru Sunamoto (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

13 May 2006 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A successful businessman's family life is shattered by an early onset of Alzheimer's. |

Plot Keywords:

Alzheimer's Disease | Based On Novel

Awards:

10 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Ken Watanabe	...	Masayuki Saeki
Kanako Higuchi	...	Emiko Saeki
Kenji Sakaguchi	...	Naoya Ito
Kazue Fukiishi	...	Rie Saeki
Asami Mizukawa	...	Keiko Ikuno
Noritake Kinashi	...	Shigeyuki Kizaki
Mitsuhiro Oikawa	...	Takehiro Yoshida
Eri Watanabe	...	Kimiko Hamano (as Eriko Watanabe)
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Atsushi Kawamura
Hideji Otaki	...	Usaburou Sugawara
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ken'ichi Endô
Yoshihiko Hakamada
Isamu Ichikawa
Hana Kino
Kunihiro Matsumura
Seiichi Tanabe

Also Known As:

Memories of Tomorrow (USA)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:I | South Korea:12 | Taiwan:GP (original rating)

Company:

ROAR

Last Samurai co-star shows off his talent

Ashita no Kikoku or "remembering for tomorrow" features a man who is diagnosed as having Alzheimer's Disease. Ken Watanabe who has costarred Last Samurai play this man with considerable talent and good physical expression, which might help the non- Japanese audience understand better about the patient. His memory and thoughts go back and forth stirring up the present, while the scenes follow this condition. Pictures are kept above all stylish and the mountainous setting is to appeal mysterious functioning of our memories ("Kioku" in Japanese) .

This man called Mr. Saeki is far from a good family man; he used to be workaholic deserting family for his company business. This is understandable because he works for a major Japanese firm in Tokyo; the film does not take up this issue but strictly focuses on the development of the Disease.

Mrs. Saeki does not bring any social issues to screen, either. She is described as a woman who lives with her memories of loving her husband. By only trying to keep the family together, she might have avoided other hardship ever since they married.

Over all, this movie is a love story within a happy married couple. There are no adventure, no heroic actions, no powerful social message involved in this film, but every scene is carefully chosen and often "speaks" without words. It would show much more up- to-date image on Japanese middle class life than any costly government-endorsed tourism campaign videos and movies.