![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
karened
I like suspense shows, but usually they're too suspenseful and scary. But I just finished one, called ６時間後に君は死ぬ (You will die 6 hours later). It's really good and there're plenty of twists along the way. Each twist is smoothly brought up throughout the movie and hence doesn't feel too forced. I can't believ eit but I did a recap of the first half of the movie. It's really good, so unless you have absolutely no wish to watch it, don't read it or it'll spoil all the good stuff! Of course, there's a second half to it, so even if you get spoilt, you can still go on to watch that second half! It's delicately linked to the first half, which can actually be a stand alone. My poor recapping does no justice to the movie, but I assure that the plot is tight.
I read the summary to the movie before buying the dvd and hence had already formed some expectations, some very cliched expectations. Surprisingly, the movie first makes me put away those expectations, then bring them back at full force, and finally crushes them! Acting is not very even, but it's not that bad. A worthy watch!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The movie starts with the female lead, Harada Mio (by Maki Yoko) walking along the busy streets of Shibuya. A shot at a watch shows that it is 6pm. The male lead Yamaha Keishi (by Tsukamoto Takashi) suddenly approaches her, wanting to talk to her. However, Mio thinks that he's trying to chat her up and gives the excuse that she's meeting a friend. When Keishi refuses to leave, Mio asks if he'll take more than 5 mins. "It'll only take 5 mins to tell you, but after that..." he says, "After that it'll take another 6 hours."
Of course Mio doesn't believe him. But when he manages to predict that her friend won't be able to go out with her that night, and that she'll be left alone, Mio looks for him and asks more about this special power of his.
They end up at a resturant. When Keishi says that he doesn't know Mio's name, they start to introduce themselves.
"I'm Harada Mio."
"I am..." Keishi hesitates a while before continuing, "Edogawa Keishi."
Keishi goes on to explain that he can see visions of other people's future; he has seen hers. In that vision, he saw her watch read midnight. She was also wearing the same clothes as she is wearing now, so that means the vision he saw takes place that night. In that vision, he saw her being stabbed by a knife in the chest in a dark place where there's a concrete wall. Unfortunately, he didn't get to see the face of the murderer. Knowing how absurd he sounds, Keishi tells Mio that it's up to her to decide if she believes what he's saying.
But Mio does believe him; Someone she knows was killed, stabbed by a knife in the chest, three month ago. The murderer hasn't been caught yet. Worried, she asks Keishi if his vision will come true for sure, and if it's possible to change the future. But Keishi isn't sure himself. What he suggests is for Mio to go search for the person who's going to kill her, before midnight comes.
In fact, Mio has a suspect in mind. So together the two set out to investigate her suspicions. On the way there, we learn that it's Mio's 25th birthday the next day and that Keishi's attempting to get into graduate school so as to research on this special power that he has.
They later arrive at the police station and Mio goes in alone to speak to Officer Sawaki (by Sawamura Ikki), who had assisted her in a stalker case. Mio has been stalked by a stalker and she suspects him to be this person called Numata. Officer Sawaki has been helping her to find the stalker, but they have no proof that Numata is indeed the stalker. Seeing the helpless look on Mio, he decides to give her a hand by letting her know Numata's address, so that she can check it out herself or perhaps confront him.
Mio also asks about the progress of the investigations on the murder three months ago. Numata isn't in-charge of it but he agrees to help ask his colleagues. He asks Mio why she was interested in it but Mio, thinking that he wouldn't believe even if she explains, does not answer. Officer Sawaki looks for his colleagues at the station and realises that the murder is classified as part of a serial killing case; there was another similar case. Both cases involved young women who had been stalked prior to the murder. For both cases, they were killed at the stroke of midnight on their birthdays. In addition, both of them had met a man who predicted their deaths right before the murder. The team is now searching for this man.
Regarding the stalker, Mio finally explains his presence. Mio had previously worked in this dating agency where she would go on dates with single man. At the agency, she was known as Sayaka. She met this strange man called Numata, who always asked for Mio despite the fact that he never seemed to be enjoying himself on the dates. One day, the agency owner was arrested by the police for illegal dealings; Officer Sawaki was in-charge of that case. Right after the agency shut down, the stalking started. What's worrying is that the person who got murdered three months ago was called Marie and had worked in that very same agency. All these seems linked. Keishi probes a little further regarding this Marie.
Told by a neighbour at Numata's apartment that he's leaving for his hometown that night, Keishi and Mio decide to make sure that the man boards the bus. However, as they head for the bus alighting point, Keishi suddenly gets a vision; An old woman lying on the hospital bed with many family members surrounding her. Keishi comments that the old woman resembles Mio. Worried, Mio makes a phone call home to check on her grandmother. No one is home so Mio leaves a message before heading to the train station.
She plans to return to her hometown to check on her grandmother before returning to Tokyo to spend her birthday. However, Keishi disagrees with her plan, saying that she may bring harm to her family since they're not sure where the murderer will strike. Understanding what he's worried about, Mio decides to follow the original plan and go to Shinjuku to wait for Numata instead. She asks when Keishi will bid her goodbye but the latter tells her that he's intending to stay with her till her birthday arrives.
Just then, Mio receives a phone call from her mother. Her mother starts to ask after her and then wishes her a happy birthday. Walking away, Keishi gives the two some privacy. When asked if she's going to return to her hometown anytime soon, Mio answers that she will if she can, but her mother doesn't understand the hidden meaning behind those innocent words). Mio then asks if her grandmother's condition changed. The word "grandmother" caight Keishi's attention, and he looks back at Mio. Mio's mother informs her that her grandmother's body checkup results just came out and there's nothing out of line. Mio's rather shocked but she doesn't show it.
Keishi tells Mio that he realised something. If anyone is to kill her at midnight, he needs to know where she is at that time. Hence, the murderer must be following them all this while. To confirm that, they break into a run. True enough, they find someone chasing after them. Fortunately, they manage to throw him off their tracks.
Unfortunately for Mio, that man is actually a police officer. The investigation team had seen Keishi standing outside the police station earlier. Realising that his resemblance the man they are investigating (they found a photo of the seer taken by one of the victims), the team had someone follow him as they confirm that he is indeed the person in the photo. The real name of the man is Yamaha Keishi, but when he makes predictions, he goes by the name of Edogawa Keishi.
Worried, Mio decides to ask her friend if she can get her some pepper spray or other defensive weapons. She's directed to a military fanatic. At the apartment, Mio goes up to find the man herself, asking Keishi to stay below just in case they're being followed again. While waiting for the man to get the items for her, Mio receives a call from Officer Sawaki, who had asked his colleague to tell him all about Yamada Keishi.
Keishi: You took really long. I didn't find anything weird around here.
Mio walks off.
Keishi: So what are you going to do?
Mio: I'm going to wait for my birthday with you.
Mio brings Keishi to an old, unoccupied building to wait for midnight.
Mio: Hey, is Edogawa Keishi your real name?
Keishi: ...
Mio: It's ok even if it's a lie. I used to go by the name Sayaka too.
Keishi: My rela name is Yamaha Keishi.
Mio: Nice name.
Keishi: Edgar Cayce is the name of a famous seer.
Mio: But why must you use an alias?
Keishi: It'll cause suspicion if I predict a murder.
Mio: Have you made such a prediction before?
Keishi: Three months ago, I let my girlfriend die. I knew that Takako was going to die...but there was nothing I could do about it.
Mio: Takako?
Keishi: She's the person you know as Marie. At her funeral, I discovered that there was another person who was destined to be killed. I told her my prediction but she thought that I was trying to chat her up. And then she died. Those visions will become reality. They'll come true.
Mio: That's not true. The future can be changed with our willpower.
Keishi: It's useless. It can't be stopped anymore. The person who remembers the smell of blood is searching for the next prey. That's why I've been searching for women who worked at the same agency as Takako. So as to find the person destined to be killed.
Mio: Are you saying it's me?
Keishi: That's right.
Keishi: Your birthday is coming soon.
Just as it seems like Mio's destined to die, Officer Sawaki arrives at the scene, pointing a gun at Keishi. It turns out that Officer Sawaki had instructed Mio to lure Keishi there so that they can arrest him. He orders Keishi to drop the knife.
However, Keishi rushes towards the officer instead, with the knife pointing right at him. Seeing this, Officer Sawaki opens fire and Keishi drops onto the ground, motionless. With the murderer shot down, Mio is fileld with relief...until Officer Sawaki speaks.
"You can enjoy your birthday peacefully now right, Sayaka-chan?"
He takes out a knife. "A birthday present for you," he says.
Explaining further, he says that he has bad memories of the birthdays of young women. That woman had spent that special day with another man, with Keishi. That's why he killed her. The woman he's talking about is Marie. He had shut down the agency just to make her his alone. But he realised that she wasn't true to him. At this point, the countdown to midnight (Mio had turned it on using her handphone) starts. Officer Sawaki moves towards Mio, who backs up against the concrete wall, just as Keishi had seen in her vision.
At the strike of midnight, Officer Sawaki thrusts a knife into Mio. Mio doesn't pass out right away and was grabbed by her neck and pushed against the wall. He then places the knife against Mio's neck, teasing her with it.
Suddenly, we see a shadow flash on the wall followed by Officer Sawaki's groan. He has been stabbed by Keishi!
It turns out that both Keishi and Mio are wearing bulletproof vests! Other than a cut on her hand, Mio suffered no other injuries. When Keishi asks Mio why she knew the Officer is the murderer, she explains that she realised that the only person who knows all the contact details of the people at the agency is Officer Sawaki, who had taken their statements when he arrested the agency owner. Although he had planned to kill her that night, he changed his plans a little when he found out about the seer. He had intended to frame the seer for the murder. But when he asked her to lure Keishi to the building, she realised that the only person who would ask her to go to a place that resembled what Keishi saw in his vision is the murderer.
With the case closed, the two set out to go back to their normal lives. Mio asks Keishi is he would like to keep in contact, but he rejects her indirectly. And so, they go off their own ways. Before it ends, we get to see Keishi's vision once more. This time, we see a scar on the old woman's hand, right where Mio was hurt the night before. Realising that the vision is of Mio's future, Keishi says to himself, "You will die, sixty years later. Although I can't be with you, that dream will definitely come true."
The next scene seems out of place at first. A reporter is asking people on the streets what their dreams are. And then we see Mio. Her answer to this: There's someone I met a year ago. I hope to see him again."
Following that, it's ３時間後に僕は死ぬ (I will die three hours later).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was watching the dvd on my dvdplayer, which conveniently doesn't display the timeline of the disc. So, I didn't really know how long I've been watching at the end of the first half. I had assumed that that was the end of the whole thing. But I kept the dvd running, and was pleasently surprised by a part two. The title to it was intriguing enough to make me continue watching. As with the first half, the second is filled with surprises.
It's CNY in 2 days' time, so perhaps you can get the dvd and watch it during visiting! Oh wait...it doesn't seem like a suitable show to watch on new year huh?
