Sho, a young teenager that lives by himself in Tokyo, receives a surprise visit from his father. His father is carrying a white box, the he explains to his son, contains the ashes of his Aunt Matsuko. She was recently found murdered by a river in Akawara. His father explains that Aunt Matsuko lived alone and because he has to go back to his hometown, asks Sho to go to his aunts’ former apartment and clean up any mess that may be left behind.

Once Sho, arrives at his Aunt’s apartment, he discovers that she lived in a filthy old apartment, full of trash bags filled with junk that she has had collected over the years. Sho does not remember ever meeting Matsuko, nor does he know of anything about her past. As he goes through her belongings and speaks with some of her neighbors, he gradually pieces together her life which was filled with tragedy and heartbreak.

Although Kamikaze Girls had its moments, Memories of Matsuko is just leaps and bounds superior to that film and for that matter, just about every other film that I have seen.

One of the strongest aspects about the film would be the story of Matsuko’s life told through those amazing flashbacks. Once Sho arrives at Matsuko’s former apartment, we quickly learn about Matsuko’s past and what a tragic past she had! The first flashback scene shows her as a popular high school music teacher. She is summoned to a meeting because of a reported theft that occurred at a local inn. The principle believes that the theft was perpetrated by one of Matsuko’s students. She is told to confront her student, named Ryu, and find out whether he really stole the money. This is where the tragedy starts to begin. The student refuses to admit to the theft and Matsuko attempts the solve the problem herself. She takes money from Ryu’s room and goes to the inn keeper to pay him back. When the inn keeper asks to see Ryu for a personal apology, Matsuko makes the unfortunate decision to take the blame for the theft. Soon, her career as a teacher is ruined and eventually she gets disowned by her family. Through another flashback, we learn that Matsuko had a chronically ill younger sister who always seemed to have been favored by her father. Since those early days, Matsuko has always sought after men that would give her the unconditional love that her father failed to give to her e.g., the desire to please for affection (trying to solve the theft dilemma with her student). Tragically, just about every man she got involved with turned out to be extremely cruel and abusive towards her.

Beyond the stellar script and the creative camerawork in Memories of Matsuko, you also have an ensemble cast of actors that ranged from very good to amazing. Most noteworthy would be Miki Nakatani, playing the main character of Matsuko. The range of emotions she had to display during the movie pretty much encompassed every single human emotion possible. Interestingly enough, Kou Shibasaki (Battle Royale/Crying Out Love In The Center Of The World) plays a small role in this film as Sho’s girlfriend. The resemblance between Miki Nakatani and Kou Shibasaki are so strong, that at a certain points in the film, I thought we would discover that Matsuko had a daughter and that daughter would turn out to be Sho’s girlfriend! Another standout actor in the movie would have been Eita, who played Sho. Although his character did not require the level of difficulty as Matsuko’s character, his role as the storyteller and calming influence after some of the more difficult to watch flashback sequences were appreciated. Another thing I can say about Eita, is that he gets to play in some seriously great films (Summer Time Machine Blues, Sukida, Hanging Garden, Waterboys, Azumi and now Memories Of Matsuko)!

Memories of Matsuko is like a very dark fairy tale wrapped around technicolor art and a soundtrack to drool over. From the beginning to end you will likely be inundated with these different emotions that comes at you in waves. I did find that during the ending - I had to take a break from the film. The emotions were just getting a little too heavy if you catch my drift (*sniff* *sniff*). Check this one out - what an amazing film!