Last Updated on October 6, 2020 by rob
Two brothers, achingly trendy Tokyo fashion photographer Takeru (Jô Odagiri) and shy homebody Minoru (Key Of Life‘s Teruyuki Kagawa) reunite at their mother’s funeral. The next day a walk across a rickety wooden bridge with Chieko (Yoko Maki), a local girl employed in the family business and a former girlfriend of Takeru’s, results in tragedy and Minoru finds himself on the end of a murder charge.
The biggest surprise in Sway – and arguably the most impressive – is that this isn’t really the murder mystery/courtroom drama it increasingly appears to be – but actually a subtle, well observed portrait of two brothers, one of whom is a whirlpool of jealousies and insecurities, the other a wise and compassionate individual so full of love he’s quite willing to placidly shoulder the burden of his brother’s sins even if it means going to prison. Odagiri and Kagawa are both excellent in their respective roles, as is Yoko Maki as the pretty girl manipulated into bed by Takeru. I’ve only seen one other of Miwa Nishikawa’s films, her excellent 2009 drama, Dear Doctor, and no surprise that, there as here, her trademark is a strongly character-driven story with a superbly subtle mise-en-scene. She’s clearly a filmmaker to watch. Sway is one of those films that can perhaps initially seem underwhelming, especially the way its last scene pointedly avoids the expected violent showdown between the two brothers as they meet up again years down the line. But the more you reflect on this afterwards the more impressive it seems and the more you find yourself wanting to watch it again.
