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About Films By Year My 100 Favorites Features

Seeking out the

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The Third Murder
Sandome no satsujin


Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda
Produced by Hijiri Taguchi and Kaoru Matsuzaki
Written by Hirokazu Koreeda
With: Masaharu Fukuyama, Kôji Yakusho, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Mikako Ichikawa, Izumi Matsuoka, and Isao Hashizume
Cinematography: Mikiya Takimoto
Editing: Hirokazu Koreeda
Music: Ludovico Einaudi
Runtime: 124 min
Release Date: 09 September 2017
Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1
Color: Color

Writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda applies same contemplative, observational style that characterizes his winsome dramas about parents and children—like I Wish (2011), Like Father, Like Son (2013), and After the Storm (2016)—to the legal drama The Third Murder.  Masaharu Fukuyama stars as Tomoaki Shigemori, a lawyer tasked with defending a client named Misumi (Kōji Yakusho) facing the death penalty for murdering his boss. Despite Misumi’s confession and previous murder convictions, Shigemori develops doubts about what really happened when every interview with his client seems to yield a different story.

The Third Murder is not a legal thriller by any means. It is a procedural, but not what most moviegoers (of any country) expect when we use that term. Koreeda’s interest here is a clinical examination of how lawyers think and how they cynically work a justice system that has little to do with actual justice. The mystery of Misumi’s actions and behavior keeps us engaged in a picture that is almost entirely made up of quiet conversations in small rooms. But the answer to that mystery, to say nothing of his guilt or innocence, is not the point.

Twitter Capsule:
Hirokazu Koreeda's take on a courtroom drama utilizes the same contemplative, observational style of his previous work. The result is more riveting than many of his family dramas, but with far less lasting impact.
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