Ashita no kioku

This is the first movie to feature Ken Watanabe in the lead role. This may come as a surprise to many of us who've seen Ken in movies like "The Last Samurai", and other Japanese movies. He was the star in these movies, but surprise to learn that he was never the lead actor until this movie.

In fact, Ken was the one who've suggested to make the novel of the same title by Hiroshi Ogiwara into a movie. He saw similarity between himself who had a bout with leukemia with the main character of the novel Masayuki Saeki. The movie that was the first film to feature him as its star won the Japanese Academy Award for 2006.

This is a good movie that portrays the life of 49 year old middle aged executive who contracts Alzheimer's disease at the peak of his career. The confusion, and desperation of the man who's career is about to be taken away from him, and the courage him and his wife shows to combat the life that's before them is more suspenseful than your average action movie. The kind of courage and dignity the main character Saeki has is probably what Ken Watanabe has as a person as well.

Ken Watanabe is brilliant in this movie, and its worth every minute of your time to see him in action.

I have mixed feelings about this film. First, I'll start by saying that Ken Wantanabe is a very talented actor and he is equally talented in this film. However, like many Japanese feature films recently, I feel this film was a bit too contrived.

First I thought it was too long and there were a few unnecessary scenes, but I may have watched the unedited version on DVD. It does hit you at some points emotionally,however, I can't find myself really empathizing with either Saeki or Emiko. Also, I feel that it's not completely realistic of what Alzheimer's is like or any damage to the brain (having brief experience myself), but shows it in a more fantastical way. The film only briefly touches upon things like violence and other complete losses of control.The director did do a good job with the only real violent scene, when Emiko is hit in the head with a dish, by actually depicting it with out showing any real physical violence. However, there were many scenes I watched in disbelief like that the main character could still read a newspaper or post it notes, especially in kanji, with advance stages of Alzheimer's, or he could arrive at the care facility alone by train with no problem, or that his wife could find him in the middle of a forest away from their home with no explanation as to how. Also, the entire scene with Saeki's old pottery teacher is very abstract and has no real purpose in the film. On a positive note this film depicts Emiko's strength and patience and she almost takes over the film as a character.

In the end I think the director's attempt was more to provoke the viewer's feelings, rather than to show the honest devastation of such a disease. I will give it a decent rating because of the acting and the cinematography was beautiful. This film does have an emotional impact, but in a contrived way. In the end I felt sad, but I didn't really learn anything from this film. It's a shame to also have no sense of hope, closure, or understanding when touching upon such a serious topic.

I saw this movie at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, MI. It was so well done. The producer was there and to everyones surprise, he was American. He explained to us that Ken Watanabe is like Clint Eastwood over in Japan. He said that Ken was reading the book of this story and really wanted to make it. He also said that the Japanese have only really seen him do Samurai movies and that this was apart from what they usually see him in. This movie won the Japanese equivalent to the best motion picture Oscar. But of course here, no nod in the foreign film category. It is emotionally stirring, visually stunning and extremely well acted. There is no moment in the film where things feel sappily cliché' or manipulative. It is a pure film about its topic. I would definitely recommend this to anyone. Please watch, and enjoy.

This was a brilliant movie. I watched it on the plane from Japan to Holland and even on the plane I found myself crying towards the end.

Watanabe acts superbly and so does Higuchi.

After watching the film, I came away reminded of how important it is to show your loved ones you care.

A lot of movies about sickness can present very 2-dimensional characters but the characters in this movie had a lot of depth and it was easy to relate to them and ask "what would I do in that situation?".

Eight out of ten.

I saw this on the plane on a recent trip to Japan after having heard about it. My wife (who is Japanese) saw this movie and encouraged me to watch it. Thank heavens she did. It's a touching, sentimental and sometimes funny film. It really does have a warmth and integrity to it which many Western movies tend to lack.

Many people will, of course, know Ken Watanabe from The Last Samurai. He is a talented actor who is ably supported by a fine stellar cast.

I want to purchase this on DVD, anyone know where I can get hold of one? (not dubbed though).

Watch this movie if and when you get the chance, it's worth it.