Memories Of Tomorrow / Ashita no Kioku DVD

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Sales: $ 13.64

$ 15.50 + $ 3.50 (shipping fee)
Sales: $ 13.64 + $ 3.50 (shipping fee)

Japanese

English / Chinese / off

1 DVD Box Set (NTSC - All Region)

Ken Watanabe, HIguchi Kanako & Tsutsumi Yukihiko

2007 Release

An outstanding perf and a methodically constructed script about the early onset of Alzheimer's disease makes Japanese meller "Memories of Tomorrow" an emotionally gripping experience. Executive produced by lead thesp, 2004 Oscar-nommed Ken Watanabe ("The Last Samurai," "Memoirs of a Geisha") pic pulses with firm conviction and gentle sincerity.

In 2010, a slack-jawed, glassy-eyed Masayuki Saeki (Watanabe) sits staring at a glorious rural sunset with his wife Emiko (Kanako Higuchi) by his side. Image is sadly comforting, and because of what follows, auds will need all the reassurance they can get. Flashback to 2004 and Saeki is a 49-year-old, slave-driving, self-obsessed advertising exec and all-around tough nut, whose perfectionist ways have snared a huge new account for his company. On the home front, Saeki is little better. Meeting his future son-in-law Naoya (Kenji Sakaguchi) for the first time, Saeki is rude and unwelcoming, and bluntly rebuffs his daughter Rie (Kazue Fukiishi) for becoming pregnant outside of wedlock.

Always in control, some initial lapses in memory on Saeki's part, like missing a turn-off on Tokyo's labyrinthine road system, or being unable to remember the actor who starred in the Tokyo-hosted world premiere of "Titanic" (he guesses "Dick Caprio"), are dismissed as minor details. However, when the exacting exec starts forgetting scheduled meetings, even Saeki has to admit that something is awry. Emiko manages to persuade him to go to a doctor, whose simple-minded questions Saeki finds humiliating. When the diagnosis confirms that despite his relative youth, the salaryman is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, his worst fears are realized and Saeki flips out. Saeki's doctor rebuffs the idea of suicide by holding out for hope of improved medicines and scientific breakthroughs -- although scene will make Western auds cringe for the doctor's over-the-top speechifying.

But yarn balks at sugar-coating Alzheimer's and its associated problems. Rather with a deliberateness that is intentionally excruciating, pic systematically shows how, both at work and at home, one disturbing omission at a time, the disease wears down the resolve of those who have the illness thrust upon them and those who must live in its wake. Finale stops short of the bitterest of ends, but yarn successfully tugs the heartstrings as the once-powerful man becomes completely dependent on others.