Manatsu no hôteishiki

What a story this is! One of theme is fairly obvious - protection, whatever the cost.

For those uninitiated, this is a one-off movie/special from a TV series about a physics professor helping the police to solve difficult cases. And the original stories came from a various novels.

This one opens with the Professor travelling to s small town. The town is on the verge of redevelopment but is opposed by environmental concerns - to 'protect' the ocean. The professor stays at a small local inn where a death occurs. An ex-cop no less. Then as he gets intertwined with a little local boy he unravelled a series of 'events', passed or present from this death.

The story is a bit heartbreaking, but I think the message comes through loud and clear. Although the message is nothing new, and occurs very often in this type of crime/drama, the way it was handle was fairly well. There are a couple of places where sentimentality could have been more restrained. Other then that, no complaints.

I just finished watching Midsummer's Equation starring Fukuyama Masaharu. It is intriguing and is one of the those thrillers where the loopholes in the story are minimum. It is the better than many of the suspense/thriller movies that i watched where the story-lines where incomprehensible or had many loopholes and unanswered queries usually left to the imagination of the viewer.

I liked the pattern in which the suspense gets unfolded and presented to the viewer.

The entire cast did their part well. This is the second movie I watched of Fukuyama apart from Like Father Like Son. He is good in both.

I highly recommend Midsummer's Equatiion!

A good movie. Not too dramatic and intense. Calm and logical with a mild emotional ending. Worth watching if you are not looking for action.

The first half hour may be a bit slow as each piece of the puzzle appears but towards the end when the puzzle comes together, it makes sense.