Personal ‘Convictions’
Another Japanese TV series gets the big screen treatment, and it’s another moderately diverting drama.
Prior Convictions
Director: Yoshiyuki Kishi • Writer: Yoshiyuki Kishi, based on the manga by Masahito Kagawa and Toji Tsukishima
Starring: Kasumi Arimura, Go Morita, Hayato Isomura, Ryuya Wakaba, Suzuka Ishibashi, Lily Franky, Tae Kimura
Japan • 2hrs 14mins
Opens Hong Kong June 30 • IIB
Grade: B-
Do these things make money? Because the endless stream of Japanese television dramas that make the leap to the big screen (Bayside Shakedown 2 is among Japan’s all time local box office winners so I guess they do) as films is, well, endless. It’s easy to see how the combination of familiar faces and a recognisable story continuing on would attract audiences, but why a film? Is it cheaper? Do producers expect non-viewers to be enraptured, leading to a second life on DVD/streaming/other ancillary? If that’s the case, all the players involved need to do a better job with the enrapturing, because based on the film of Prior Convictions | 前科者, I think I’ll pass on the series. I’m good, thanks.
Prior Convictions is a sometimes dangerously low-key drama about a volunteer probation officer, Kaya (the popular and ever chipper Kasumi Arimura, We Made a Beautiful Bouquet), and the handful of ex-cons she’s trying to shepherd down the path of respectability. One is a fraud that runs up crazy bar tabs under her name, his “wife,” one is a pessimistic woman who just needs a little tough love (I’m sure the landlord will appreciate the broken window and that it will reflect smashingly on the parolee, but whatevs). One, Midori (Suzuka Ishibashi, a holdover from the series), has become a genuine friend, and the last, Makoto Kudo (V6-er Go Morita) is doing his best to go straight, quietly working at an autobody shop while harbouring a deep, festering trauma.
That hair just screams ‘drama’
The odd thing about Prior Convictions is that for a film that may be trying to woo new viewers, it doesn’t say much about this buddy system evidently on the go in Japan, wherein average people volunteer to help the continuing rehab of criminals. It’s a perplexing and unexpected programme in a country known for its nearly 100% investigation/confession/conviction rate and intolerance of second chances. Who knew? No, literally: who knew about this? This is where the story is, and what writer-director Yoshiyuki Kishi (who worked on four of the series’ six episodes) bypasses. Perhaps he addressed it in the show, but anyone who missed that is going to fixate on this fascinating detail. The central story revolves around Makoto, who becomes the prime suspect after a cop is mugged, his service revolver is stolen, and it’s used in a series of random homicides. The murders aren’t random, of course, and do link to Makoto and his presumed missing brother Minoru (Ryuya Wakaba). Elsewhere, Kaya wrestles with her own past trauma when she runs into her old high school sweetie, Shinji (Hayato Isomura), who still looks high school aged.
How about more of these two?
On more than a few occasions Prior Convictions dips into melodrama, which is to be expected given the generally heightened nature of J-drama. While Kaya clings to her principles and encourages patience and forgiveness, Kishi goes out of his way to set up a grim backstory for Makoto and Minoru that almost justifies the action. The mixed messaging about the value – and pleasure – of revenge versus the dignity of taking the high road and moving on is another story in itself. And that’s not taking into account the systemic failures that keep women in the line of fire of abusive husbands. There’s lots of meat on these bones, but Kishi cleaves closely to a television vibe (visually, thematically), never taking advantage of the freedom a theatrical release could afford. The cast is certainly game: the romantic tension between Kaya and Shinji is about as fiery as a wet match, but Arimura turns in a very Arimura performance, Wakaba is suitably histrionic, and Shoplifters’ Lily Franky shows up late to class up the joint. There might be another six-episode series tucked away in here, rather than a single movie that reduces its more salient points to afterthoughts. Now that I’d watch.— DEK