Oboreru Hito (2000) Reviews

Ichio Naoki makes his directorial debut with this tale about a marriage on the rocks. The film opens with Tokio (Shinya Tsukamoto) waking from a nap to discover his wife Kumiko (Reiko Kataoka) has drowned in the bathtub. He immediately calls 911 only to stop and hang up the phone. When the operator calls back, he tells her that everything is okay, even though Kumiko looks quite dead. He subsequently freaks out, tries unsuccessfully to bring her back to life, and finally passes out from drink. When he comes to the next morning, he finds that not only is Kumiko is quite alive but also that she has made him breakfast. Tokio is more than a little unnerved, unsure whether or not to write off the whole incident as a bad dream. Yet from that day on, Kumiko's flesh feels cold to Tokio and the apartment stinks of death. Soon Tokio's mental health deteriorates further, as his marriage falls apart. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi