MEMORIES OF TOMORROW / ASHITA NO KIOKU

Origin Country: Japan
Runtime: 122 MIN
Presentation Format: 35 MM

DIR Yukihiko Tsutsumi SCR Hakaru Sunamoto EXEC PROD Ken Watanabe CAST Ken Watanabe, Kanako Higuchi, Kenji Sakaguchi, Kazue Fukiishi, Asami Mizukawa, Noritake Kinashi, Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Eriko Watanabe, Teruyuki Kagawa, Hideju Otaki

Short Note:
Experiencing headaches and unable to find the words he is looking for, Saeki (Ken Watanabe) is diagnosed with an early onset of Alzheimer's disease. This emotionally touching story questions what it is to love and share a life with someone who has lost his memory.

Long Note:
Ken Watanabe (THE LAST SAMURAI, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA) delivers an emotional and heartbreaking performance as Saeki Masayuki, a businessman struck with early Alzheimer's disease in the prime of his life.

Saeki has everything to live for; he is heading the launch of a large ad campaign, his only daughter is months away from marriage and he is about to become a young grandfather. Saeki's drive and personality make him a great executive, but a lousy husband. And yet, it is Saeki's wife, Emiko (Kenji Sakaguchi), who is the most determined to hold on to their life together after his diagnosis.

Yukihiko Tsutsumi's poignant interplay of dream, vision and the surreal deftly reveals the intimate struggle of a man who is losing his ability to distinguish the present from the past, whose only constant is the unconditional love of the family from which he is slowly slipping away.
-Jacqueline Lyanga

Biography:
Born in 1955. Filmmaker, director, visual artist. Starting out in music video clips, hasbranched out to a wide range of fields including stage and music events (over 20), TV dramas (over 100 episodes), TV commercials (16), and films (9 to date). His film KEIZOKU/EIGA/KEIZOKU: BEAUTIFUL DREAMER recorded a box office hit in Japan.