Lorna Irvine reviews 'a haunting, compelling drama for our times'.
That Daihachi Yoshida's excellent drama hasn't currently got British distribution is scandalous.
To the average onlooker, Rika Umewaza (Rie Miyazawa), an employee at Wakaba Bank, is a good and noble worker--the very picture of Japanese restraint. But, tiring of her rigmarole and boring husband, she finds a student lover (the grandson of an ageing client) struggling with debts and starts to embezzle the corporate bank, whisking her boy off to decadent hotels.
Her double life exposes the corruption of supposedly trusty environments, a morality tale in pale silver--blue and red shades.
Miyazawa is utterly luminous, saying so much with a mere sigh or eye roll, and her wonderful co-stars Sosuke Ikematsu and Satomi Kobayashi are, respectively, a believable toy boy and suspicious co-worker.
A haunting, compelling drama for our times with images that stay with you, long after the credits have rolled.
Dir: Daihachi Yoshida. Japan, 2014, 2 hrs 6mins
Trailer: http://youtu.be/WhhXF5MDZS4
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