Dear Doctor

Harris Theater: May 7 @ 7:00PM
Melwood Screening Room: May 15 @ 2:00PM

Passes not accepted on Opening/Closing Night. Please arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of start time to ensure availability of seating. Film schedule and Q & A's are subject to change.

2009/Japan/Director: Miwa Nishikawa/127 min
Cast: Tsurube Shofukutei, Eita, Teruyuki Kagawa, Haruka Igawa (Language: Japanese)
The film opens with a villager frantically tearing through the town of Kamiwada on a bicycle and shouting in the middle of the night. Dr. Ino, (Tsurube Shôfukutei) quirky, charming, and beloved local physician, has inexplicably gone missing.
Through a series of flashbacks, the story actually begins with the arrival of medical student Keisuke Soma (Eita) to Kamiwada. His only mission is to complete his internship and get out of Kamiwada, which he sees as nothing but a rural backwater. However, in the deceptively quaint, picturesque village of Kamiwada nothing and no one is as simple as it seems.
Dr. Soma’s mentor is Dr. Ino. At first, he finds Dr. Ino’s techniques to be questionable, at best. Soon, however, he realizes that Dr. Ino has the town’s admiration and respect. Thus, it is all the more puzzling when he disappears. Police detectives arrive and begin piecing together the story of Dr. Ino’s appearance in and disappearance from Kamiwada. Flashbacks and interviews with the villagers reveal that Dr. Ino’s known history is anything but a settled matter. However, the town’s inhabitants, the majority of whom are senior citizens, do seem to agree that he was a “god.”
Gorgeous photography, a tinge of black comedy, and subtly rendered performances engender “Dear Doctor” with a slow burn of melancholy. As Dr. Ino’s story falls into place we find that he was, in fact, all too human. His presence in (and sudden absence) Kamiwada reminds all that he touched of their own humanity. It forces even the most resolute of characters in the village to question the motives and authenticity of others and themselves.