Ningyo no nemuru ie

A tearjerker that asks the right moral question at the end (what to do with a person in a vegetative state?) goes full-blown emotional to convey its message, The House Where the Mermaid Sleeps is overall a mopy drama that is bound to depress you if you are easily moved by human despair and hardships. TN.

(Watched and reviewed at its India premiere at the 3rd Japanese Film Festival of India in Mumbai.)

This is an excellent film. As one reviewer said, "It asks all the right questions." I would add, it asks them with compassion and respect.

The impressive cast includes Ryoko Shinohara ("Fishbowl Wives") and Hidetoshi Nishijima ("Drive My Car") They play parents, who call off their plans to separate after their young daughter suffers a drowning accident that leaves her brain dead. The father works for a biomedical firm, and his projects include electrical stimulation of limbs to give control to disabled patients.

But with brain death, are they maintaining life or creating a macabre puppet? The father reluctantly wants to pull the plug, but the mother cannot accept that her child is gone. Making the moral issue more murky, the daughter of an old friend needs a heart transplant soon, and will die without it.

Both parents are portrayed with authenticity and sympathy. The ending does not pretend to have solved all the issues, but does offer hope to continue with life in spite of tragedy.