The Long Excuse (2016) Online

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This movie is about a novelist who makes life difficult for everyone around him. He's a gloomy fellow who seems to be in a perpetually bad mood. Even worse, he cheats on his faithful wife with an editor acquaintance. Very early in this film, things take a serious turn when his wife dies in a bus accident. Now confronted with this abrupt event, our protagonist is faced with the task of finding closure and moving on with his life.

One of the most interesting things about "The Long Excuse" is that this protagonist is the epitome of multi-dimensionality. He cheats on his wife and has an attitude problem, so you immediately dislike him. But then, he shows a softer side when he volunteers to help care for two little kids, whose father is also a widower from the same bus accident. That sense of responsibility helps to make him more likable. However, half the time I was thinking to myself: "Did this guy still have feelings for his wife, does he feel guilty for cheating on her, or is he just completely confused with how to feel about it?" And it does not end there. I'm not going to tell you all of the other nuances to this man's character because you should experience that for yourself when you watch the film. But what I will say is that there are a lot of different angles that are covered with this character. And if that weren't impressive enough, this movie properly develops the other widower that our protagonist befriends.

In fact, this movie reminded me of Hirokazu Koreeda's film "Like Father, Like Son." One of the reason's why Koreeda's film was so compelling was because it explored so many different angles of one scenario so intricately. After that movie was over, it felt like a complete examination of that particular dilemma. "The Long Excuse" has a similar impact. There are so many different ways that this film explores the themes of mourning and redemption. It's really impressive in its intricacy and scriptwriting.

And that includes the dialogue. The characters in this movie have no qualms about stepping up and telling someone their thoughts on situations that are difficult to talk about. There are a few intense exchanges of dialogue where the characters criticize one another in how they're handling this very touchy situation. It's pretty riveting stuff.

The lead actor is Masahiro Motoki, who you may recognize from films such as "Departures" from 2008, "Gemini" from 1999, "The Bird People In China" from 1998, and "Gonin" from 1995. He is phenomenal in "The Long Excuse." It could be the best performance of his career. It's certainly a very difficult role to tackle, with a wide range of emotion to portray. The fact that Masahiro was able to make this protagonist relatable is a huge accomplishment. I love this guy.

The director is a woman by the name of Miwa Nishikawa, who has directed a handful of impressive films in prior years. My favorite of which is a film called "Sway" from 2006. All of her films are worth watching, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next.

This is a solid entry in the genre of kids thawing out the frozen heart of an adult. The two appealing kids are particularly good actors, and make it easier to accept the rather sudden transformation of the main character. This movie should appeal to all but the most jaded and cynical.

LONG EXCUSES / THE LONG EXCUSE (NAGAI IIWAKE). Viewed at CineMatsuri 2017. Cinematography = four (4) stars; subtitles/translations = three (3) stars. Director Miwa Nishikawa (also credited with writing the screenplay based on her novel) starts with a dramatic tragedy that quickly dissolves into mostly modest family humor focused on proxy parenting of precious children. A childless husband becomes a baby sitter for the children of an absentee father (he's on the road a lot) after both men (who are initially strangers) lose their wives (who are close friends) in a ski holiday bus accident. Nishikawa forte seems to be her knowledge of the cares/concerns/antics of children, and is a suburb director of her child actors. Not so much for her adult male actors who spend considerable time, well, just posturing. Overall, the Director appears to have a problem fully executing her very creative script. The film lacks much in the way of a dramatic dynamic range the viewer might expect given the plot line and loses altitude from time to time (partly due to over dosing on posturing). Female child actress Tamaki Shiratori (playing a preschooler) and child male actor Kenshin Fujita (as a grade school student) steal every scene they are in (which is most of the movie)! Cinematography (semi-wide screen, DCP, color) is uneven (beach shots are under exposed) and the overall image is a bit on the grainy side (from being blown up to a larger analog format?). Subtitles and translations are conspicuously lacking through out. Many humorous line readings are truncated/skipped in the subtitles. Text on computer screens is inadequately translated leaving the viewer wondering what is being searched for and why. Music is okay. Surround-sound field seems to be among the missing. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Others have explained what this film is about, so I'll just describe my feelings about it. Overall, this is a good film. It's typical Japanese, so it's very slow moving :) Don't expect fast-moving action with this film. It starts off very well, but it does get a bit cheesy in places. However, it's well acted, and it's filmed very well. The script and dialogue are also pretty good. Overall, a thumbs up from me. A tad cheesy here and there but it's worth a watch. 6.5/10 is my score.