Journey to the Shore is my second Japanese movie for the Melbourne International Film Festival. This was the movie I was most looking forward to not just because Fukatsu Eri and Asano Tadanobu are in but also because Kurosawa Kiyoshi (WOWOW's Shokuzai) directed it and won best director at Cannes. I was surprised to see WOWOW films at the beginning credits.
Fukatsu Eri's husband Asano Tadanobu died 3 years ago and all of a sudden he reappears, saying that he want to take her on a journey to meet the people who have helped him. Its your basic dead person comes back to say goodbye movie with hints about their relationship and what actually happened scattered throughout.
Fukatsu Eri is very good in this one but the script is oh so generic. I have no idea how Kurosawa Kiyoshi got the directing award cause I've seen much better stuff from him. (see the first episode of Shokuzai) The movie is way too lethargic and could have used a lot of edits. Actually I think it would have been so much better as a 3 episode WOWOW dorama than a movie.
I feel like Fukatsu Eri really kept the movie from being a total bore through the force of her acting. Watching the movie I was thinking I've never put her on the top echelon of Japanese actresses but the best thing about the movie was watching her character react to various situations and reading her emotions.
As a dorama, Journey to the Shore would have been not bad but as movie, it was kind of meh and dare I say boring. The last movie for me will be Koreeda's My Little Sister. Fingers crossed. Oh yeah, Aoi Yu has a nice cameo as well.