Rent The Third Murder (2017)

Neglected gem you should not miss - The Third Murder review by PT

Unfairly overlooked by both critics and UK cinema audiences this is a departure for Koreeda from his recent Ozu inspired family dramas coming between “After The Storm” in 2016 and “Shoplifters” in 2018. On paper this would be considered a “courtroom drama” although the few actual courtroom scenes are incidental to the drama.

In the “DVD Extras” Tony Ryan’s excellent essay points out how rare courtroom dramas are in Japanese cinema and indeed how opaque the workings of the Japanese judicial system are. Koreeda’s film examines how the Japanese legal system is obsessed with process with little interest in the truth of what actually happened. The film is almost a typical courtroom drama in reverse in that it opens with the murder in which the murderer is clearly identified. The rest of the film then picks apart the initially established certainty that he is the guilty person leaving only an uncertainty that the trial has failed to dispel. At the centre of the film is the evolving relationship between the “unreliable” defendant and his hard pressed defence lawyer both brilliantly acted. Ultimately the viewer has to make up their own mind as to what really happened.

If you like a neatly tied up courtroom drama “whodunit” with lots of courtroom theatrics this is not for you. If, however, you like Koreeda’s other films and are familiar with their slow pacing and careful observation you will not be disappointed. Yet another example of why Koreeda is in the forefront of current Japanese directors.

Totally mystified by this - The Third Murder review by Other Worlds

I usually enjoy Japanese movies but I confess I was releaved when this movie finally finished , it was really hard work. The real problem with it I found was that it was very hard to understand what was going on , I don't usually mind that a filmmaker assumes that his audience is capable of following along but in order for that to happen you do need to have some clues to help in that process I get the feeling that the subtitles were only capturing about 5% of the plot and none of its subtlety . Some of the conversations between lawyer and client ( particularly towards the end were completely mystifying and appeared to be assembled at random ). Did he do it , or didn't he , if he did do it do we know why , was he a good man doing bad things - absolutely no clue. Everyone in this movie - lawyers, defendants and witnesses are lying or concealing their motives

It could be that this movie is a thickly veiled critique of the Japanese judicial system , or maybe just its defence lawyers. Certainly a Japanese courtroom does not come across as a forum for enquiring minds - most of the decisions seem to be agreed in advance in back room deals and defence lawyers seem to get the rough end of it. At the start of the movie the camera is positioned so it is on the same side of the partition as the defence lawyer making the prisoner appear to the one who is incarcerated , mid way through the movie and the camera has switched positions so it appears as if it is the lawyers who are boxed in and by the end the director uses reflections to overlap their faces to suggest that the two are indistinguishable - maybe that is the point ? Who knows ? If you are a native Japanese speaker perhaps you can let the rest of us know.

I can hardly be bothered to post a review of this load of tosh. - The Third Murder review by DW

Just like reviewer DB, I couldn't figure out the ending but I couldn't care less anyway.

Two hours in conversation with my mother-in-law would be more fulfilling.