• World Premiere

Indie Forum

The Burden of the Past

過去負う者

Director: FUNAHASHI Atsushi(舩橋淳)

2023｜Japan｜125min｜Language: Japanese ｜Subtitles: English

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Starring

TSUJII Taku (辻井拓)
KUBODERA June (久保寺淳)
KINA Kiriko (紀那きりこ)
MIYATANI (みやたに)
TAGUCHI Yoshio (田口善央)

Synopsis

Would you be willing to live alongside former criminals?

Japan has a recidivism rate of 50%. The staff at a magazine called CHANGE want to lower that by rehabilitating former prisoners. This forms the basis of FUNAHASHI Atsushi’s ensemble docudrama, which tells the story from both the perspectives of the editorial team and ex-cons.

Drawing from a real story of Japan’s only job magazine for former convicts, FUNAHASHI shows a year of their workshops, therapy, efforts to get them jobs and a stage performance that serves as the climax. Along the way, tension ratchets up as souls are bared, mistakes are made, and, despite the pain, the characters keep trying. “Your past failures always affect your life,” one of the ex-cons says and it proves to be true hostility to the former criminals expose how hard it is for people to reintegrate into a society that can be intolerant.
Hair-raising drama and a bleak ending cap what is quite a fast-moving and informative film.

[Jason MAHER]

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