Dear Doctor

2009, 127 min., 35 mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Miwa Nishikawa. With Tsurube Shofukutei, Eita, Kimiko Yo.

Co-Presented with the New York Asian Film Festival

Winner of 21 major Japanese film awards, Miwa Nishikawa’s Dear Doctor is deceptively simple. At first glance, it’s a typically middle class picture that idolizes the slow and simple life of the tiny village where a young intern (Eita) comes to train under the watchful eye of the kindly old local doctor (Tsurube Shofukutei). But this isn’t a yawn-inducing slice of mushy sentiment: as it turns out, Tsurube isn’t really a doctor at all. Instead, he’s a con man who’s been hoodwinking these gullible villagers for decades. Or has he?

A hall of mirrors about reality, illusion, lies and liars, Dear Doctor is like a beautiful lake that hides a ravenous shark a few inches beneath the surface.

Part of Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema

TICKETS
$12 / $8 Japan Society members, seniors & students

Buy Tickets Online or please call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. – Fri. 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends 11 am – 5 pm.