Life in Overtime
Seen on a plane, Life in Overtime (Owatta hito) follows the misadventures of a Japanese banker - a Tokyo University man - who has retired and must work out how to live the rest of his life. Directed by Hideo Nakata, better known for horror/thrillers like The Woman Who Keeps a Murderer and Dark Water, the film was reasonably well-received despite some Movie of the Week moments. Hiroshi Tachi won Best Actor at the Toronto Film Festival for his performance in the lead role. The estimable Hitomi Kuroki is perfect as Suzanne Pleshette to his his Newhart, and at 58 looks better than most people have ever looked. In a cool, sexless marriage, she nevertheless seems to understand him.
“You’re an idiot…like everyone else.”
So that would be that, except… Some movies just catch you a little bit. At 58, Director Nakata is nearing the age at which retirement is mandatory for a Japanese salaryman. That invisible boundary at sixty must loom large for him. Three score…and then what?
I sometimes think of life as a four act play. In your first 20 years you’re growing up, in the next 20 you’re trying to make your mark in the world, in the next 20 you’re an adult dealing with adult things. It was a little different for our little Alaskan group, which has had a high mortality rate over the years, but most people in this world get through the first three acts. The fourth act is different - for a 60-year old man the median life expectancy is 22.5 years, which means about half of us will not get that far. And, if we do, it will be with all physical and mental warranties expired.
Life in Overtime faces this with grim humor. Our protagonist goes to the health club, the library, and the park, and always in the background we see the same old man, fast asleep with his mouth open. He goes to night school. He goes on a disastrous adulterous date, has a disastrous encore in business. He learns a little about himself.
A slightly wiser idiot.