Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: “Mother”, “Departures”, “Sway”

Bogus medicine and Japan's ageing population gets Miwa Nishikawa's tender touch in translating this wonderful drama to a big screen feature that has been heavily decorated with awards since its 2009 release. The screenwriter and director, emerges from her 2006 courtroom melodrama "Yureru" ("Sway") with a convincing character study that may be overlong (2 hours and 7 minutes) and excessively elaborate, but culminates in a satisfying, fable-like ending that is hugely rewarding for anyone who ever knew anything about the human condition.

It's no real spoiler to disclose that Dr. Osamu Ino (Tsurube Shofukutei) is in fact, no doctor at all. However, in the quiet village where he operates, it doesn't look like he needs to be one. Young med school grad Dr. Soma (Eita), veteran nurse Akemi Ohtake (Kimiko Yo from "Departures") and opportunist drug salesman Masayoshi Saimon (Teruyuki Kagawa from "Twentieth Century Boys") are all trapped between ignorance and ignoring - some just don't know, while others simply don't want to. Why should they do something, when the villagers prize the attention and care from the man over the real medical help he actually gives?

The charade advances to its final stage when young widow Kazuko (Kaoru Yachigusa) with her mysterious stomach pains enters the story and her beautiful daughter (Haruka Igawa from "Tokyo Sonata"), a doctor living in the city, threatens to visit.

The wry humour that underpins "Dear Doctor" provide great contrast to the danger at hand. It's a flowing movie that asks, at every juncture, how easily we disregard the failure of the system and the medical monsters it creates. With its superbly conflicted characters anchored by the demonstrable depth of their portrayals, you can look forward to an entertaining moral epic suitable for mature audiences. Highly recommended.

Cinema Online, 17 June 2010