The weight of expectations — from family, friends, community — can be tough on any young person. Now imagine those people once paid $5 million to save your life.
That's the premise behind "Five Million Dollar Life," the debut film from director Sungho Moon. It's about a young man named Mirai Takatsuki (Ayumu Mochizuki), whose hometown pitched in to get him a life-saving heart transplant when he was a child. To add to the pressure, a local TV station airs a yearly special on Mirai, giving everyone the chance to keep an eye on the young man they helped save.
Mirai, now on the verge of graduating from high school, does an admirable job of keeping up appearances, telling the TV cameras his life goal is to become a doctor "in order to help others the way I was helped." In reality, though, Mirai is an aimless teen, sick of the "bogus" act he's been forced to put on since childhood. The pressure is so bad that when someone on social media suggests he "quit" his bogus life, Mirai heartily agrees. But that same user reminds him it would be unfair to die with a $5 million debt over his head. "Fine," Mirai responds, "I'll earn $5 million then kill myself." What follows is a journey across Japan filled with various part-time jobs, some less conventional than others.