In this languid Japanese courtroom drama/murder mystery, viewers actually only see one murder—during the first five minutes of the film. The rest of the running time is spent in slow expository mode, as a team of Japanese legal eagles attempts to mold an appropriate defense around their client Misumi (Koji Yakusho). Misumi has already served a long prison term for two murders he committed while in his 20s; here, he has confessed to the crime but can’t seem to decide on a motive for it. It’s unclear whether Misumi is simply a thick doofus or a shrewd con artist attempting to play an angle. Most of the film is a meditation on the arbitrariness of what constitutes "truth," which is certainly an admirably timely topic in our post-truth age. But director Hirokazu Kore-eda drags this truth vs. illusion conceit past its tolerable limits, offering up multiple possible scenarios as to the motive behind Misumi’s killing of his boss. Still, the patient viewer will be rewarded: it’s interesting to observe Misumi’s lawyer Shigemori (Masaharu Fukuyama) as his attitude to the real story behind his client’s crime slowly transforms from a cynically manipulative one to what eventually becomes an all-out quest for the absolute truth. A strong optional purchase. (M. Sandlin)
The Third Murder
Film Movement, 124 min., in Japanese w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99, Blu-ray: $39.99 Volume 34, Issue 2
The Third Murder
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