Suspect X (2008)

WARNING: THIS COMMENTARY CONTAINS INPORTANT SPOILERS. SO PLEASE STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE MOVIE. The movie comes across as pulpy in the first 10 minutes (I didn't know it came from a book and TV series when I watched it). The characters of the supposed leads, Masaharu Fukuyama and Ko Shibasaki, are one-dimensional throughout. Thankfully, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi and Yasuko Matsuyuki brought depth and weight. Tsutsumi especially. He draws you in with his portrayal of his character. It's enigmatic and convincing. A very fine actor indeed.The movie shines when it delves into the human drama and the contest of wits and wills between the two male protagonists. The mountain climbing segment is superb, a magnificent allegory of the intellectual power-play between the two men. ***SPOILERS*** Unfortunately, the movie didn't succeed fully on the logical brilliance it is premised on. There seems to be two serious flaws. First is the identification of the body through matching the fingerprints found on the bicycle with those from the hotel the victim stayed in. Certainly real-life police would know that is inconclusive. They would certainly confirm only with fingerprints on official records.Secondly, a man of Ishigami's brilliance could certainly foretell that the likelihood of Kanaoka accepting his sacrifice is low to start with, or at least there is no guarantee of his plan's success. And Kanaoka would hear about it from news whether Yukawa tells her about it or not. And for Ishigami to take an innocent life is totally inconsistent with his character, no matter how powerful and overwhelming love is. The movie would have been great if not for these flaws. But it is still a pretty good movie principally because of Tsutsumi's performance and the human drama. I would have given it at least 8/10 if not for the logic flaws.

I am not a big fan of movies which are based on books. Just look at what they did with Harry Potter and others (LOTR is an exception). So I wasn't much excited when my friend told me it was based on a book and I tried not to watch it. He practically had to make me sit through the first 15 minutes of the movie to make sure I was intrigued. Well, I am glad he made me watch it because Suspect X is one the best mystery thriller movies I've watched in the last couple of years.Suspect X is a story of a murdered husband, a wife, a daughter and two geniuses. Manabu Yukawa is a scientist who helps out the police once in a while. And Tetsuya Ishigami is Mathematician who lives next door to the wife of the murdered man. Both have their reasons to be involved. The story is written tightly. The cinematography is hauntingly beautiful.The strongest point of the movie is the interactions of the two geniuses. When they are there talking, you don't want to miss a second of their conversation. They are not conniving and trying to out do each other. They are just old friends talking. And that's what makes this movie so special. I highly recommend it to those who love Hitchcock movies.Note: I don't know Japanese and watched this movie with English Subtitles. It in no way affected the mood of the movie.

Have you ever wondered if by some chance, the story of Beauty and Beast had each of their counterparts in oriental world? In fact, many post-modern classics in Oriental world had this context of beauty and beast in love. Sometimes, the beauty is at the same time the beast (you can find dozens of Japanese comics in the type), while other times you will find the stories featuring the protagonist gradually becoming inhuman to pursue the love of the beauty. The story of Suspect X features one of the most memorable Oriental lead Mr. Ishigami. He's not a people person, and certainly not an enthusiastic lover. He is, in summary, a man of his logic and mathematics. Yet, in order to cover up for the beautiful neighbor's crime, he pulled a magic trick which had the police messing around with no progress at all. What did he do on earth? How are the police not able to relate the murder back to the ones that commit it? Spoilers alert.The whole movie Suspect X is like a poetic journal conceived in Mr. Ishigami's mind. It stayed cool until the last moments; it presented you with all the necessary facts. Japanese cinema has been famous for its social concern especially in the detective genre. However, unlike the old movies that bash the social immorality explicitly, Suspect X doesn't complain. Or, should I say its complaints are all silent, implicit, waiting for the concerned parties to unveil.Actually, if one can taste Mr. Ishigami's mindset, one would be shivering because something is terrifying. You may sigh for him because he may still lack certain sectors of knowledge like female psychology and personalities to render a perfect cover for the crime. Or else, you may sigh for him because the wanderer he killed and he are of the same kind, which was spilled out by the society like urine after the society utilized one. In his vision, the wanderers are accurate like clocks, indicating their inhuman, robotic status, or oops, he already considered them a bunch of dysfunctional mechanics. If a robot kills another robot, it would be completely amoral. Unfortunately, both the wanderers and Mr. Ishigami are still considered humans by the law, therefore must be put to judgments.Haven't any of us made up our minds just like Ishigami to be a biologist, mathematician, scientist, etc. to fulfill our life? One can easily find out that he's not the genius the other people said he would be. Yet, is that all about life? For a modern Oriental, however, such can very much be the case. The cultural dilemma we have here is that of a functional social component and its(or should I say his) humanity. Talents, fame can all become curses. People stop taking you for who you are and only recognize what you are talented in or famous for. As Orientals, we have reluctantly found out the more secular we become, the less our cultural identity can comfort or shelter us. Last week I visited my 90-year-old grandma who couldn't remember me. Note that 30 years ago she was the finest nurse chief in my city. If we ask secularly what is left in her now, we would know that we are all heading to Mr. Ishigami's way.When we say the word "dead end", do we actually hope to die in that "end"? Again in my peers, I already know several geniuses that are as pessimistic and depressed as Mr. Ishigami. More interestingly, their view of love and romance is also similar to Ishigami's that their deepest, most innocent love for another person should be packed, reserved on the shelf like medals. In fact, they also know this is not exactly a healthy way to look on love. And, that's why I said Suspect X is either an Oriental Beauty and Beast story or a silent accusation to the society we are living in. Many were awed by Ishigami's "self-sacrifice" and how deep his love actually is. Many succumb to this romanticized yet twisted "love" Ishigami has. Many are even ready to tell their spouse that they are willing to become anything for their other half. While audiences with similar personality to Ishigami tasted this bitterness secular can't know.To prove that Ishigami's "sacrifice" is not pure, one only needs to see one fact, that he killed another person. Anyone overlook that fact should simply see their ignorance not only to the poor, but also to people's souls. On the surface, his "love" is selfless. While John the apostle said in the Bible, "God is love", Modern Orientals often say the opposite "love is God". Ishigami may not really be a "obsessive perverted" he pretend to be when he gave in himself to the police, but he's absolutely obsessed with the perfected-in-his-mind life of the beautiful neighbor and her daughter. As the movie showed us, the Hanaoka mom and daughter lived a painful, shattered life in a shattered family further riddled with crime tragically commit by themselves. Yet one as obsessive as Ishigami can be bought into this vision of female angels if one's totally hopeless.However, one similar to Ishigami still has another choice. That is to confess his love. If that came out a failure, then one still can confess that his love is unhealthy, not only to a priest, not only to a psychiatrist but also to God himself. Love can be powerful, and love can also fall and still be powerful in a demonic way. When love falls, one's ego will make sure nothing else can sugarcoat it. Then despite how selfless that love appears, it's essentially selfish. Suspect X's story also reminded me that "poor" is not only a word to describe the financial status, but also a word of soul, that intellectuals can be as poor as beggars, and we don't need to be a social worker to care for them.

Not sure too many people will be watching this movie outside of Japan, I have caught it on DVD here in Indonesia and i found it a very interesting movie to watch. Japanese do things differently, like the French, and this was a crime thriller not so much about catching the killer or having to find out who did it but about motivation. the maths teacher Mr AShiguro is obviously essential to this story and I love the scene towards the end up the snowy mountain, great drama and great scenery, wow! I sense a naivity in the basic story line and I would have liked to see more understanding and reasoning behind why the husband returned at that particular time in the womans life; reference is made to her having first met him at a Club, so was she a geisha girl or stripper or something before or just a bar girl? Not aware this is part of a series and the DVD is entitled SUSPECT X, easier title than the one above. of course I watched with satisfactory sub-titles in English. The film is well put together but even so I cant highly rate it, hence only 6 points.