Ashita no kioku

This film tells the story of a successful executive in an advertising film, who notices that his memory is slipping away. He and his wife faces huge challenges to adjust to his new functional level.

I bought the DVD of "Memories of Tomorrow" years ago but haven't watched it until now. I wish I watched it earlier, because it is superb. Ken Watanabe's acting is very good, he convinces the viewers about his poor memory, his fear and confusion that he does not perform as he used to. In the second half of the film, the film focuses more on the wife. She is superb as an ever so supportive wife who is strained to the core, yet remains strong and positive. The film really highlights the butterfly effect of memory loss, both on the sufferer and the carers. Moreover, the film has a strong feel of realism, and events are not exaggerated at all. It touches me heart and I hope it will touch other people too.

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.

If "Memories of Tomorrow" seems like "The Notebook," it's because the cinematic adaptation of a novel by Hiroshi Ogiwara deals with the dreaded Alzheimer's disease as it slowly eats away at Masayuki Saeki's (Ken Watanabe) memories and, therefore, life, a process foreshadowed by an image in its opening credits of buildings being constructed played in reverse such that they appear to be deconstructing. Yet the similarity with Nick Cassavetes' sudsy interpretation of Nicholas Sparks' novel end there, as director Yukihiko Tsutsumi, barring a manipulative second act, presents the film's first hour set in corporate Tokyo with such rhythmic precision and expert framing that the urgency of Masayuki's anger and panic over his gradual descent into senility is masterfully portrayed.

A go-getting manager at a top ad agency, Masayuki, just a few months shy of his 50th birthday, has landed a major deal with a client and along with a doting wife Emiko (Kanako Haguchi) and a soon-to-be-married daughter Rie (Kazue Fukiishi), his life isn't just stable; it's an enviable accomplishment. Yet because he keeps on forgetting his clients' names, the highway exit to his daughter's house, and pretty much every trivial details in his life, he sees a doctor as Emiko suggests, where he learns that he suffers the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease.

As typified by one sequence where Masayuki gets lost in Shibuya, Tsutsumi deftly captures his protagonist's mad dash effort to make sense of both his external and internal environment, be it finding his way to the office, or remembering where his marketing team sat during an Italian lunch, or contemplating whether to jump from a ledge upon his disease's confirmation. Tsustumi radically differs in pacing and tone during the latter half as -- after a cheery montage of Masayuki's newfound domestic life following his early retirement -- he deliberates on the emotional and psychological issues of Masayuki, who now removed from the daily stress of urban life, finds it hard to adjust. Insistently stating the fragility of the human mind and human relationships with recurring images of potteries, china wares and cups, Tsutsumi eventually leaves the film to simmer in a treacly syrup which, while admittedly touching, leaves a bitter aftertaste.

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.

Ashita no Kikoku or "remembering for tomorrow" features a man who is diagnosed as having Alzheimer's Disease. Ken Watanabe who has costarred Last Samurai play this man with considerable talent and good physical expression, which might help the non- Japanese audience understand better about the patient. His memory and thoughts go back and forth stirring up the present, while the scenes follow this condition. Pictures are kept above all stylish and the mountainous setting is to appeal mysterious functioning of our memories ("Kioku" in Japanese) .

This man called Mr. Saeki is far from a good family man; he used to be workaholic deserting family for his company business. This is understandable because he works for a major Japanese firm in Tokyo; the film does not take up this issue but strictly focuses on the development of the Disease.

Mrs. Saeki does not bring any social issues to screen, either. She is described as a woman who lives with her memories of loving her husband. By only trying to keep the family together, she might have avoided other hardship ever since they married.

Over all, this movie is a love story within a happy married couple. There are no adventure, no heroic actions, no powerful social message involved in this film, but every scene is carefully chosen and often "speaks" without words. It would show much more up- to-date image on Japanese middle class life than any costly government-endorsed tourism campaign videos and movies.