Movie Digest
Kanon is a teenage girl who resides with her father and has a very tumultuous relationship with her father. One fine day, Kanon was caught shoplifting at the local supermarket. When the relevant helper noticed that she has taken something without paying for it, he calls after her to stop. Kanon realizing that she is caught red-handed, panics and runs out of the shop into the oncoming traffic. In her hurry to get away with her mistake, she crosses the road without looking. The result of this was a truck and a car colliding and Kanon dies after being hit by both the vehicles. Kanon’s father Mitsuru is now grief-stricken with pain and anguish at the loss of his child and blames the helper Naoto for the death of his daughter. Mitsuru was then consoled by his young colleague. Intolerance is a movie about how anguish and grief shaped the lives after Kanon’s death.
The Feel-Good Part
This movie shows how media, especially the news is now running based on sensationalism. The accidents and other instances are exaggerated to turn up viewership and get attention to their channel. Mitsuru at some point even turns fodder for memes when his piece is run on the media. We get to see how the grief and pain of individuals are commercialized and presented in such a way that it generates profit for the media company. There are also moving sequences between Mitsuru and Naoto. Mitsuru can’t come to terms with his daughter’s death and now blames Naoto. Naoto trying to beat the molestation allegations. The movie grabs the essence of what it means to go through something painful all while our pain is being used as fodder for more profit. It is a commendable commentary on how media has the power to portray the truth for entertainment purposes.
The Disappointing Factor
The film although shows how a small town gets attention due to the media coverage of Kanon’s death. It falls prey to the tendency in Japanese films that over-explain certain aspects while leaving the other aspects open for interpretation. This leads to countless scenes that were unnecessary. This feature by Yoshida could easily have focused more on the grieving aspects of the story. The emotional impact of the story was a far better bet than the route the feature took. In that, it loses some of its charms. In incorporating the over-explaining of some aspects, it starts to add tacky, corny, imagery in the end, but nevertheless, the feature is really good in showing the impact of media and grief on a person. It was Mitsuru on screen today, it could happen to anyone of us tomorrow.
In-Depth Analysis
The cinematography and idea behind the feature film by Yoshida is a solid foundation for the script. Yoshida is direct in his storytelling. The original name of the film ‘Blank’ is significant to how unbothered Kanon’s teachers and classmates were to her existence. The name ‘Intolerance’ is to show how the main character refuses to recognize the humanity of others. This work was based on a real-life incident in Yoshida’s younger days. It’s a hard-hitting drama that unfolds the developments surrounding an unfortunate incident. Mitsuru Soeda makes the most of his role by tracking the people involved in the death of his daughter down. Meanwhile, we see that the driver of the car that hit Kanon and the helper Naota is disturbed by the intense media coverage of the case as well as Mitsuru’s displaced anger. Mitsuru refuses to believe his daughter would shoplift and continues to behave as a nightmare for the people involved in the accident.
Star Power
Furata plays the role of Mitsuru Soeda. Tori Matsuzaka plays the role of Naoto. The former has previously lent his acting skills in the drama Ikebukuro west gate park. Ito Aoi plays the role of Kanon in the feature.
Overall Opinion
The cast in this movie did a brilliant job. Yoshida Keisuke has taken inspiration from his childhood and there is a touch of violence in his work which is evident in this feature as well. However, this movie is a good watch. It puts the grief and the anguish really upfront. We see how Nightmarish Mitsuru is in tracking down the car driver and Naoto. Tori Matsuzaka and Furuta have worked for the first time in this feature and went to great lengths in displaying their acting chops on the big screen. A humanistic drama that ruminates on the grieving process of a loved one.
