REVIEW: ALL LIVES

4/5

Present Lives.

109 Mins. Starring: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Ken Watanabe, Tomoyo Harada, Aya Omasa, Hikari Mitsushima & Mitsuko Oka. Screenplay: Eriko Kitagawa. Director: Ryuichi Hiroki. On: Netflix.

TV Tokyo are celebrating their 60th anniversary with the release of 'All Lives' on Netflix. No, this is not a movie to get a trumped-up crowd excited from the title. More, it's one that shows those who are old still have a life, and it matters how we live it to the last. Whether we decide to use modern medicine to help us prolong every moment we have. Or if we decide instead to cherish every second that we have left. That's what Ken Watanabe's 'Old Man' ("Ossan") is facing as he takes a leap of faith, screaming with his arms out wide and hopping on the back of Satoshi Tsumabuki's moped like Julia Roberts does Tom Hanks' in 'Larry Crowne'. All for a lovely Japanese movie with subtle, but beautiful heart that reads the room like "mono no aware." What more could you expect, especially when the doctor's name is Sakura like falling cherry blossom?

Watanabe became worldwide, like 'Shōgun' star Hiroyuki Sanada, following 'The Last Samurai' of Tom Cruise. Since then, the 'Godzilla' star has been a big deal in Hollywood ('Letters From Iwo Jima', 'The Creator'), particularly with Christopher Nolan ('Batman Begins' and 'Inception'). Returning home with the recent likes of 'Fukushima 50', Ken just completed the superior second season of the novel adaptation of 'Tokyo Vice' on MAX. Only for it to be cancelled, which seems crazy. Hopefully, the journalistic and detective investigation into the yakuza will find a new home. Until then, recovering from scandal in Japan, he comes back to give us one of his best and most compelling performances to date. His character's health has become heartbreakingly brutal, yet his manner is still so tenderly beautiful, as his life is not past yet like an amazing A24 Korean-American love story set in New York City. 

Traversing the drops in the ocean in Japan, Watanabe finds gold and a lovely embrace with the star of the show Satoshi Tsumabuki. In a movie that reminds you of the fond French film 'The Intouchabes', 'The Assassin' actor who the West saw setting things off on 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' deserves every honour, envelope and award for his deep bow to the art and life of what makes human dramas in Asia so much more nuanced and meaningful than they are in the movie world home of Hollywoodland. Scripted with wit and heart by Eriko Kitagawa ('Beautiful Life', 'Orange Days'), Ryuichi Hiroki ('800 Two Lap Runners', 'Ride Or Die') directs this definitive drama with a keen eye for what's to come in all our lives. Something that's captured beautifully by the legendary Mitsuko Oka. 

Even in its end, life is all about love, and that is shown through the 'Bread Of Happiness' of Tomoyo Harada. There's also strong support from Aya Omasa ('Paradise Kiss') and Hikari Mitsushima ('Love Exposure', 'Mary and The Witch's Flower'). The 'First Love' and 'Death Note' star's character will really leave a lump in your throat as she tugs at your heartstrings. Japan may be known for the vices of Tokyo and others like Osaka, but once you road trip through this great country and all the humanity that hides behind the faces you see in polite society, you will learn so much more about what their lives, and yours, mean. It's not just about the two men who ride off into the sunset, but when they do, it's time for us all to see a new day. One in which we all make our lives matter. Right in this moment. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'The Intouchables', 'Past Lives', 'Tokyo Vice'.