Japanese audiences like films with crowded stories that throw a bit of everything into the mix, like the makunouchi box lunches that have something to suit every palate. A piece of shrimp and slapsticky farce for you, a bit of fish and weepy melodrama for me. Outlanders, however, often find it hard to stomach the resulting mishmash. Where is the consistency, they wonder? The logic? The third act?
Based on Hideo Yokoyama's best-selling 2002 novel, "Hanochi (Half a Confession)" is one such mixed bag of a movie. Kiyoshi Sasabe has produced a courtroom drama with elements that, in local box-office terms, are all but foolproof. Want psychological suspense, bureaucratic intrigue and family drama that could draw tears from a stone? "Hanochi" has it all, in generous portions.
No wonder producers fought over the film rights to the book. The winners, a consortium lead by distributor Toei, now have the biggest domestic hit of the new year. But those looking for an entertainment package based on the John Grisham model, with a coherent, focused narrative and a big courtroom scene in which wrongs are righted, may leave "Hanochi" disappointed. Clutching a damp hankie maybe, but disappointed.
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