Synopsis
 It happened all of sudden to an ordinary family in peace. In the suburban city of Nagoya called Toyoake-City in Aichi, a business man Yuzo Kanno and his wife Tomoe, their children Mizuho and Shunsuke call in Yuzo’s old mother Masako to live with them. However, shortly they find something wrong with Masako and it is Alzheimer’s disease that she got. The family begins to fall apart.
 
 Program Note
 How well do we understand dementia? Oriume was released in Japan in 2002 and ran until 2006, attracting 1.3 million spectators. It challenges prejudices about dementia by taking a completely new angle on how to understand and deal with the disease. Masako spends her old days peacefully until her son and his wife invite her to live together with them. With this sudden change she gets confused, and then there comes the incurable disease called dementia. Her daughter-in-law, Tomoe, is embarrassed by Masako’s change, but has no other choice but to endure all the ordeals of doing the household chores, going to work, and looking after her mother-in-law by herself. This film talks not only about dementia, but also about the friendship between two women who are suddenly thrown together into unexpected changes and hardship. Oriume challenges social prejudices regarding dementia. It also criticizes the reality that woman has to take all the responsibilities of caring for old parents-in-law. Korean audiences will especially be able to sympathize with the characters in this film, as it is based on Japanese culture which shares in common the Confucian social morals that take it for granted that women should bear the responsibility of supporting the parents of their husbands, even in today’s rapidly aging society. Kazuko Yoshiyuiki, who starred in In the Realm of Passion, Gohatto, and Kikujiro, gives an amazing performance in the film. (Jay SOHN)