My Man

The premise and direction of the story seem, at first, to be a tease. A slightly wacky take on Lolita ? But things proceed to the grim. A take on Luc Besson's The Professional, or even Fatal Attraction ? The question of 'will they or won't they ?' sustains tension for the first half, but the loneliness and desperation of this curious pair carry things further. Much further, into territory where nothing is off-limits, not even murder.

The disturbing feel of My Man is further enhanced with surprising touches of gory horror which, although seemingly out-of-place, are striking and highly effective.

Not at all for the faint of heart, weak of stomach or the easily offended, My Man is voyeuristic and perverse, gripping from start to finish, and is practically guaranteed to leave you unsettled. Highly recommended.

In the aftermath of the Hokkaido earthquake and tsunami of 1993 (the second of Nikaido's films with this backdrop after her breakthrough Newcomer of the Year role in "Himizu" (Mole) (2011)) a single man employed by the local Coastguard, adopts a young foundling, Hana, who may, (or may not), be his biological daughter. Her mother (with whom we incidentally learn the man has had a previous relationship) and father have both perished in the disaster. The film follows the twists and turns of their, potentially incestuous, and explicitly murderous, relationship through Hana's teenage years to her eventual independent adulthood. I'm sure this will be a controversial opinion but I thought it was a magnificent, tragic and, ultimately, quite heart-wrenching film from start to finish. Certainly one of the very few I immediately watched again, and appreciated even more when I did. I'd recommend that to any viewer as some of the plot points (the film is based on a book) are almost mentioned incidentally. It's certainly one of the best Japanese films I've seen in years, (and I watch a lot of them), and it's a shame that the controversial theme may limit its appeal to a wider audience. The backdrop of a coastal Japanese town in winter, beautifully filmed in whites and blues, with drifting pack ice, contrasted with the urban squalor of Tokyo earned a Best Cinematographer nomination. The lead actor, Tadanobu Asano, received a Best Actor award and Fumi Nikaidô a Best Actress. The recurring musical theme is "Going Home" from Dvorak's New World Symphony which captures the mood of the film perfectly. For reference the only explicit sexual scene is between consenting (unrelated) adults and there's limited violence. Finally, and last but not least, this is about the fourth film I've seen starring Fumi Nikaidô and she has impressed me in every one. She's prolific but mostly through television serials. She has recently decided to give these up to focus on films. As she's still only 26 I look forward to watching her films for years to come. My score 10/10.

A terrible film, do not waste your time watching this garbage. I made an account just to warn you how bad this film is in terms of entertainment.

I'll keep it incredibly short - So the story is already ruined because it's from a book. Film adaptions from books are usually terrible (this one too as expected.)

Actors+producers+directors+cameras are terrible. 1/10 would not bang again.

Unless you are in love or the actors are your idols don't bother, just move on and watch something else.

Cheap idea to feed on some people's nostalgia (10 year old girls and such) it's like 20 minutes of story and 2 hours of watching people eat, walk around, sex and bad camera work.

There's a lot more things that I have to complain about but I'm not going to waste another hour or so of my life.

"My Man" is sure to turn off a lot of people. It deals with some difficult subjects, and does so in such a novel way... I don't blame the other couple reviews for being disgusted with it. But I don't think it was ever exploitative.

Fumi Nikaido co-starred in this and also another similar, different take on post-tsunami life, "Himiko". "Himiko" is also a great film, and she's just as good in it, although you'd almost have a hard time recognizing her from one to the other, even where she is supposed to be the same age. She's a great actress and she obviously likes to take risks and work with innovative directors.

I have to admit it was a bit weird seeing Tadanobu Asano looking so old. I suppose some of it, in the same way Nikaido is made up to look younger, so it was with him. But still... I guess we all get old but gah! Anyway, he's also in fine form here. I can't say I've ever seen a film where he wasn't.

Beautiful cinematography, wonderful acting, novel storytelling, deliberate pacing. If you want all those things from a movie, you can hardly go wrong with this one.

But it *is* morally ambiguous while taking on taboo subject matter, and it won't pander to those who crave a fast-moving narrative.

8/10