Sway

Another great film I had the chance to watch at the Japenese film festival "Japan Cuts" here in New York was, Sway (original title "Yureru"), the latest effort by Miwa Nishikawa (Wild Berries).
Sway is easily one of the most well written and thought provoking films I have seen in a very long time.
The film starts with a young man named Takeru (played by the brilliant Jo Odagiri who was also the star of Kiroshi Kurosawa's "Bright future") returning to his hometown to honor his dead mother, something he wasn't able to do at her funeral since he was working. Takeru is a successful photographer, handsome and rebellious who chose to pursue his dreams rather than work at his family's gas station like his older brother Minoru did (a great performance by Teruyuki Kagawa). Takeru soon finds out that his old girlfriend has been working at their gas station and that his brother has a crush on her. Chieko (a heartbreaking performance by Yoko Maki) however, doesn't seem to feel the same way and the appearance of her old boyfriend makes her hope for a better future.
When the 3 of them go on a trip to the countryside, the hopes and the fears of our main characters are to some extent revealed and will lead to the death of Chieko.
Minoru is soon accused of murder and Takeru is doing everything he can to protect his brother, even though he is not sure he is innocent. The discussions between the two brothers give us a glimpse into how they feel about each other and the dialogue is brilliant.
After the film, the audience had the chance to talk to the writer/director of the film, Miwa Nishikawa and she told us that the idea of making it came from a dream, where her best friend killed a woman and she wanted to protect him, something she didn't expect herself to do and which surprised her and made her feel there's so much we don't know about ourselves. She also told us that another thing she wanted to explore was the fragility of memories which personally I think is a very interesting concept.
Finally I couldn't help but relate to the story of these people, one of whom had left his old town to live in Tokyo but still was very much connected to everything he left behind (even if it was hard for him to admit it), while his brother and old girlfriend, felt that they hadn't been able to accomplish everything they wanted in life and that their dreams were drifting away.
I saw "Sway" 2 days ago and I still can't get it out of my mind. I really wish more films such as this one existed.