Il caso Minamata

Slowburning, warmhearted, shocking portrait of the destruction of children's health by chemical pollution in Japan.

The story: Johnny Depp plays his usual clusmy, comical self, this time around he plays an American alcoholic master photographer. Out of the blue comes a Japanese woman at his door who asks him for his help to expose the pollution crimes through his photography.

Impressive movie, which starts out rather lighthearted and sometimes even kinda comical, only near the very end the drama hits full on, when we as an audience get to see the many disfigured, handicapped children, ruined for life by the chemical pollution of the river from which they ate the fish...

Produced by Johnny Depp himself. Based on true events...

Please have the patience to watch the final credits, because at the end many similar chemical pollution catastrophes are being shown from around the world, including Europe and the USA.

"Minamata" is a disease that I was curious about while studying at the Faculty of Medicine.

An amazing person, a unique photographer, W. Eugene Smith.

The movie has a pretty good biography and stays away from fake drama. Because the story itself is already very painful.

Andrew Levitas has done a great job of directing.

Benoit Delhomme has created a magnificent composition with Sony camera and lenses.

Ryuichi Sakamoto exclaimed that he was a master with every note of the music.

And I was very happy to see J. Depp, whom I missed for a long time.

Hiroyuki Sanada, you are an amazing detail.

Initially I was quite shocked by Johnny Depp's weathered appearance. After overcoming the initial shock, I was completely captivated by the very touching story. The ending for me in tears.

A solid and important film, especially these days with very recent topics. Its a story that deserved to be told at the cinema as it is groundbreaking, shocking and absolutely relevant. It also brings back Johnny Depp to his actually acting standards. Depp is wonderful, and not only because he successfully de-glammed for the role, but also because he found his acting weapons back. He truly gives a great performance in a film that sometimes suffers from its lengths. Because although the story is absolutely important to tell, director Andrew Levitas didn't really do where to go with it. He knew he wanted to tell it, he knew what he wanted to tell, but he didn't know how to put this in a 2 hours movie as there are some major lengths , especially in the midsection of the film And you sometimes had the impression this wold have worked better as a short film. To see Depp back to business it is worth to see and also to encounter newcomer Minami in the female lead is really something. She did great and shared a great chemistry with Johnny Depp. Bill Nighy also has his moments but can do better, his role was a bit underdeveloped. The song is amazing and there are many moments that are worth to mention, however as a whole it felt sometimes a bit too slow and without a definite direction.

"Minamata" is a movie in which we follow the photographer William Eugene Smith (Johnny Depp) traveling to coastal villages in Japan to capture with his camera the effect of mercury poisoning on people. It is a story about corporate greed (Yes, another one....) and thus less shocking as corporate greed is always put above human life. What I am trying to say is that there is nothing shocking about corporate greed as new stories emerge every other day. However this one is unique as it was kept a secret for so long and I never even heard about it. Excellent acting from Johnny Depp despite his personal problems. I enjoyed the cinematography as old footage was used and mixed into this movie. I strongly recommend everyone to watch this movie. It is simply a very good movie, story and the environment should concern all of us.