Suspect X thoughts

[paulak_rumin8]

Feeling highly contemplative tonight. I got my Suspect X DVD in the mail today, so Husband and I sat down and watched it after chasing kids (esp. oldest) to bed. Wow, that was heavy. Not to say I didn't like it, but that was mighty heavy-handed, especially the last half. It kind of played like a Greek tradegy. A bad situation that theoretically could have been a good situation gets worse because of unwise decisions and ultimately winds up horribly awful. The end. It makes me think. It makes me ruminate. It makes me think I'm not going to bed right away anymore because I'm too busy digesting high-residue thoughts. Husband, on the other hand, is already sleeping, I think.

Comments

[actiaslunaris]

The novel of The Devotion of Suspect X has been translated into English (the only one of the books that has) and the film is notable for sticking very, very close to the novel's plot. There are some details in the novel that make the situation worse, in my opinion. One thing you won't find in the novel is Utsumi, because she was created expressly for the television show, and that does change the film significantly.

I agree, it is a tragedy. It's one of those outings in a canon that can break or make a person's interest in it. I like it because it is a good story, perhaps better than any of the others. Even if it's a story predicated on bad judgments--Hanaoka's and Ishigami's in particular--it's also a story of humanity. It's a story that explores what it takes to break the characters, change as catalyst. Not very subtle, yes, but very effective. The first time I watched it, it did wring a few tears from me. It did a fine job creating sympathy for the main players.

[paulak_rumin8]

What strikes me is that I'm more prone to get teared up over the understated, slightly ironic scenes, like episode 3 when Utsumi had to come to terms with a death she didn't want to acknowledge and Yukawa had to come out of himself just enough to pinch a little. I love that. I love it more on repeated viewing. Now, I've only viewed Suspect X once, but my initial thought was that it was not subtle enough. Kind of found myself thinking Yukawa needed to snap out of it. His old classmate clearly had long-standing emotional problems from the get-go. He was a psychological time bomb, genius or not. Hanaoka apparently had a history of choosing really bad romantic objects. I wondered why Yukawa would stomach being involved in that sort of thing for so long and allow himself to get drawn so deeply into it. However, first impressions don't necessarily define my opinion ultimately, so I plan to spend some more time with the story and see what else I can tease out of it.;)

[actiaslunaris]

I love that scene, too. I love how he respects Utsumi enough to let her be and how it compares to the scene from the first episode.

I don't think Yukawa did know Ishigami had problems. Heh, but snapping out of it...yeah, maybe so. You should check out the book, since the characterization of Yukawa concerning that situation changed from the book to the movie.

I get what you're saying, though. We each bring our own experiences to a story, so what may resound with one person will cause another to question it. I look forward to reading your eventual thoughts, if you're inclined to share.