Quick Review #35: "My Broken Mariko"

Title: My Broken Mariko / マイ・ブロークン・マリコ

Rating: 8.5/10

Recommended for: 

Those who are fans of the leads Nagano Mei and Nao and like stories of how people overcome adversity despite their circumstances

Liked:

- The story was gloomy most of the time due to the tough circumstances which the two leads were in due to their backgrounds and them being largely powerless to overcome their fates. In particular, Nao's character Mariko was such a huge mess which really showed how much of a mess Mariko was in, both physically and mentally. Then again, you can't help but pity yet get frustrated with her at the same time. On the other hand, Nagano Mei's character Tomoyo was also struggling in life in her own way but there was enough toughness in her to survive amid the challenges and she even had the capacity and will to be a pillar of support for her friend. As such, despite the pessimism, there were still pockets of sunshine and hope sprinkled throughout the story. Most importantly, I liked the movie for not over-promising a fairytale ending. It can't be that things will change drastically better for everyone but at least, there is some hope that the situation could improve with each small step taken to regain control of one's fate through the choices we make. I also liked the fact that the story was told in such a comprehensive and complete manner despite being less than 2 hours long. Goes to show that you don't always need a lot of time to tell a good story.

- The acting from Nagano and Nao left such a strong impression on me. Although it seemed on the surface that Tomoyo was the embodiment of strength while Mariko was the personification of weakness, there was actually the opposite trait also embedded in them. One wouldn't have cared about her hopeless friend if she didn't have an emotional soft spot for her buddy. The other could have died long ago if she didn't have the mental strength to hang on until she finally reached the breaking point. As such, this blend of contrasting aspects in their characters really made this a very memorable and delicate performance from the both of them.

- The supporting actors may not have appeared a lot - some only for a single scene - but their performances were so eye-catching and added much flavour to the story. Special mention goes to Kubota Masataka, Yoshida Yo and Omi Toshinori.

Disliked: 

- I haven't read the original book so I can't comment on if the movie was identical to the original and if there were any key discrepancies. The only aspect which bothered me (not to the extent of disliked though) was how some parts of the story didn't make much sense logically. Biggest issue was how Tomoyo did not face any consequences for housebreaking and stealing Mariko's ashes from her parents. Much as I think this is due to the fact that Mariko's father was probably ashamed of what he did that contributed to her death and her stepmother being a voice of reason that could have stopped her husband from taking any action against Tomoyo, there's still a nagging thought about how illogical this could have been in real life. And how Tomoyo managed to wear those moldy and smelly shoes was really beyond my comprehension.