‘Fragments Of The Last Will’: Tokyo Review

Dir: Takahisa Zeze. Japan. 2022. 134mins

This story of emotional resilience, optimism and endurance against the odds from prolific Japanese filmmaker Takahisa Zeze is an unabashed weepy which is inspired by true events. In the aftermath of World War II, Japanese soldiers captured while occupying the puppet state of Manchuria found themselves interned in Soviet concentration camps; while many were freed, a few were charged as war criminals and found themselves locked up in Siberian labour camps for over a decade. Fragments Of The Last Will follows one such man, who touches the lives of his inmates and longs to be runited with his wife.

A handsomely staged period piece which goes to great lengths to ensure that no tear is left un-jerked

Takahisa returns to the Tokyo International Film Festival, this time in the opening film slot, following the screening in competition of his sex worker drama The Lowlife (2017). Previously, his films have tended to connect best within the domestic market rather than on the festival circuit, although his marathon drama Heaven’s Story won the FIPRESCI Prize and the Netpak Award at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival. This picture, while pitched at a sentimental register which might limit its prospects outside of Japan, where it will release in December through Toho, is a handsomely staged period piece which goes to great lengths to ensure that no tear is left un-jerked, no heart un-wrenched.

Husband to Mojimi (Keiko Kitagawa), and father to three sons and a baby daughter, Hatao Yamamoto (Kazunari Ninomiya) thinks first of their safety when the Soviets launch an attack on Machuria’s capital Harbin, where he and his family are stationed. At his urging, Mojimi takes the children, embarking on the long journey back to Japan and leaving her husband behind, injured and covered in rubble. It’s just the first instance of noble self-sacrifice from this man who is honourable in the face of dishonour, generous in the face of cruelty. (Although he does deliver numerous, increasingly querulous, renditions of the song My Darling Clementine – a song which rather outstays its welcome by the end of the picture.)

Key among the men that Yamamoto encounters are Matsuda (Tori Matsuzaka), narrator of the story and a young soldier tortured by his own perceived cowardice on the field of combat. Then there’s Aizawa (Kenta Kiritani), a sergeant in the Japanese army whose high-handed hectoring of his subordinates belies a personal suffering. Finally, there is “Shin” (Kento Nakajima), a sweet natured former fisherman who Yamamoto teaches to read and write, and Hara (Ken Yasuda), Yamamoto’s superior, who is consumed by guilt following the betrayal of several of his men. All of these individuals are touched by Yamamoto’s selflessness; all step up to support him at his time of need.

The film’s languid pacing and its fondness for montages and flashbacks means that it feels leisurely and rather over-long at times – an impression which is further confirmed by the pensive, hesitant piano score. But Takahisa smartly introduces a prison camp stray puppy in the second half, which contributes considerably to the film’s emotional impact (as well as serving as an early warning device for peril).