The Third Murder
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The Third Murder
From internationally lauded Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda (After The Storm; Like Father, Like Son) comes The Third Murder, a complex death-sentence drama which tells of one man s hunt for the truth whilst investigating the murky events of a gruesome murder.
Leading attorney Shigemori (Masaharu Fukuyama) takes on the defence of murder-robbery suspect Misumi (Kôji Yakusho) who served jail time for another murder 30 years ago. Shigemori s chances of winning the case seem low - his client freely admits his guilt, despite facing the death penalty if he is convicted. As he digs deeper into the case and hears the testimonies of the victim s family and Misumi himself, the once confident Shigemori begins to doubt whether his client is the murderer after all.
Kore-eda s latest film sees the award-winning Japanese auteur eschew the intimate approach of his acclaimed family dramas and deliver an ice-cold courtroom drama, packed with mystery and suspense. The Third Murder has been a huge success with critics and audiences alike in Japan, where the film swept the Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Editing at the 41st Japan Academy Prize.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Optional English subtitles
The Making of The Third Murder, a new featurette on the film's production
Tony Rayns on The Third Murder, a newly filmed video appraisal by the expert on Asian cinema
Stills gallery
Original trailer
Reverisble sleeve featuring two artwork options
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the films by Alexander Jacoby
- FakeBonanza
- Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:35 pm
Re: The Third Murder
Hopefully Rayns likes The Third Murder more than he does two thirds of the Koreeda boxset.
- Michael Kerpan
- Spelling Bee Champeen
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Re: The Third Murder
Got to see this at Boston's International Film Festival. Although the main topic here is crime and punishment (and, perhaps, self-punishment), Kore'eda's (favorite?) motif of parent and child relationships (or non-relationships) keeps popping up. Koji Yakusho (my favorite current actor -- from anywhere) is excellent as the (alleged) murderer -- and the rest of cast is also close to perfect. No easy answers here (if any). The audience seemed to like it (and noticed lots of the inter-mixed humor). Looking forward to adding the upcoming BluRay to my collection.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Re: The Third Murder
Koreeda transitions very well to more genre-based fare with this courtroom whodunit. The strong hook is a killer who confesses to the crime, but keeps changing his story, leading to a cat and mouse game between the killer and his lawyer (who’s the only person who seems to care that he might be being played) and between the film and the audience (trying to piece together What Really Happened). Koreeda sustains the ambiguity right up to the end without abandoning the audience to shrugging relativity.
Tony Rayns’ piece is great at providing context, especially about the oddities of the Japanese justice system. He reminded me that it’s absurd that Suo Masayuki’s I Just Didn’t Do It (a film that gets even more into the weeds of that fascinating topic) has never had an English-friendly home video release. Rayns’ speculation that the third murder of the title might be the judicial killing of the murderer is interesting, but I think it’s not sustainable on the evidence of the movie. I’m pretty sure that it’s explained that Misumi’s original crime was the killing of two loan sharks, which means that the murder investigated in this film would indeed have been his third murder.
Tony Rayns’ piece is great at providing context, especially about the oddities of the Japanese justice system. He reminded me that it’s absurd that Suo Masayuki’s I Just Didn’t Do It (a film that gets even more into the weeds of that fascinating topic) has never had an English-friendly home video release. Rayns’ speculation that the third murder of the title might be the judicial killing of the murderer is interesting, but I think it’s not sustainable on the evidence of the movie. I’m pretty sure that it’s explained that Misumi’s original crime was the killing of two loan sharks, which means that the murder investigated in this film would indeed have been his third murder.
- The Fanciful Norwegian
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
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Re: The Third Murder
The Korean and Hong Kong DVDs had English subtitles, but they're both long OOP.
- Michael Kerpan
- Spelling Bee Champeen
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Re: The Third Murder
zedz -- I think the "third murder" has a delirate double meaning.
I Just Didn't Do It is a very well-made, very worthwhile film (both as drama and "informationally"), but is pretty on-the-nose compared to Kore'eda.
I Just Didn't Do It is a very well-made, very worthwhile film (both as drama and "informationally"), but is pretty on-the-nose compared to Kore'eda.