Nagai sanpo (2006)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Eiji Okuda

Writers:

Eiji Okuda (story) and
Sakura Momoyama (written by)

Release Date:

December 2006 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Life is a long walk....... If there is Love then we are able to continue walking.......

Plot:

Matsutaro Yasuda, a retired girl's High School Principal who has lost his wife to alcoholism and is forsaken by his Daughter...

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Ken Ogata	...	Matsutaro Yasuda
Hana Sugiura	...	Sachi Yokoyama
Saki Takaoka	...	Sachi's mother
Shota Matsuda	...	Wataru
Eiji Okuda	...	Detective Iwai
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kiwako Harada
Midori Kiuchi
Tomokazu Ohashi
Masahiko Tsugawa

Also Known As:

A Long Walk (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:136 min | Japan:136 min | Canada:136 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Filming Locations:

Gifu, Japan

Company:

Asahi Hoso

Excellent film

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I'm very glad to find this film much better than Japanese mass products and half-done "(quasi-)arthouse films", which became worse and more hypocritical in these 10 years. "Nagai sanpo" is a simple story, of parenthood, of neglect and abuse by parent on children and of repentance and spiritual rebirth. An old man and a little girl are shown here as the past and the present, as two contrast persons concerning the same problem. He is a man who harmed and ruined his wife's life and his daughter's childhood. She is the victim of her mother's neglect and abuse. He tries to save her life, giving her a sense of warmth and intimacy, in which her poor family life is lacking. But unfortunately, in the course of things it takes a form of kidnapping. Cinematography is very beautiful and clear,the original music sounds as if an organic part of these characters' state of mind. Not too long, not too slow,everything seems natural and--at the same time--very sad,because we know similar stories are going in reality, children and young people are dying or committing suicide every day because of neglect,abuse and violence of their own parents or their surrounding people.