The Long Excuse

A widower comes to terms with his own grief - or lack thereof - in this Japanese drama from Miwa Nishikawa, which she adapts from her own novel.

"The Long Excuse begins with an ending: though he does not realise it, popular writer Sachio Kinugasa (Masahiro Motoki) is seeing his wife Natsuko (Eri Fukatsu) for the last time. Natsuko cuts his hair, as she's done for 20 years, before boarding a bus. Shortly thereafter, while cheating on Natsuko with another woman, Sachio learns that the bus has crashed and Natsuko is dead. Their marriage was friendly, not loving, but now Sachio must publicly perform the role of bereaved spouse. Then Sachio meets Yoichi (Pistol Takehara), a father of two children, who also lost his wife in the accident. Unlike Sachio's forced grief, Yoichi's is unbridled and very real. Sachio has never been a father, or even much of a husband, but he offers to look after Yoichi's children. He also discovers human connections of a sort he's never known." (Toronto International Film Festival)

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