Media feeding frenzies and social shaming appear in Japanese films about as often as bad weather does on Mount Fuji. In his new film “Intolerance,” however, Keisuke Yoshida shows not only how the mass media and the local community react to a tragic and sensational death, but also how grief can blind the father of the victim to the humanity of others.
The English title certainly applies to the film’s protagonist, who cannot tolerate opinions or beliefs that do not align with his own. On the other hand, the Japanese title — “Kuhaku,” which translates as “Blank” — seems to apply to the father’s daughter, whose death reveals that she meant next to nothing to her teachers and classmates.
Based on his original script, Yoshida films this story with an unflinching directness similar to his 2016 “Himeanole,” which plumbed the motives of a psychotic serial killer, and this year’s “Blue,” a jolting inside look at professional boxing. “Intolerance,” though, is centered on ordinary Japanese, not violent or washed-up figures on the margins of society. True, the characters find themselves on the emotional verge as their worlds collide and crumble, but they remain complex individuals, viewed with sympathy, even when their words and actions become extreme — or simply wrong.