When browsing the selection of World movies on the flight, I find that a lot of Japanese movies are relationship movies (not comedic like their Western counterparts). I suspected that The Lies She Loved might be too, but then it turned out to a couple of different things.
The movie starts by showing an “older” relationship. Usually movies are about teens or 20-somethings? This movie is about established people with stable jobs. Quickly though, the boyfriend suffers an accident and the girlfriend is left with a mystery. Apparently, the person she knew didn’t exist (in government records)! The movie then becomes a mystery film, trying to figure out who the boyfriend is.
I liked the mystery portion of the film as trying to figure out a person’s roots or history is something I am interested in. Trying to figure the boyfriend’s past also tied into a recent article I read about how DNA tests may tell you more than you want to know. Eventually they solve the mystery and ended the most interesting part of the movie.
There’s a lot of build up in this film and I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. How does the café girl tie into things? How are they going to wrap up the PI wife’s story line? Why did the boyfriend decide to hide his identity? Unfortunately, the director either doesn’t answer the questions or does it in a simplistic way. I guess I was fooled by the mystery part of the film and thought that there would be more surprises towards the end of the film. That would have earned this movie a four, but unfortunately the last 30 minutes bring it back to a 3 out of 5.
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