Hyoten (2006)

Also known as: Freezing point
Country: Japan
Format: movie
Genre: drama, life&death
Cast: Ishihara Satomi, Morisaka Ei, Iijima Naoko, Nakamura Toru, Tegoshi Yuya, Togawa Fumiya, Kitamura Kazuki, Honjo Manami, Kubozuka Shunsuke, Nakao Akiyoshi, Kaku Chikaku, Yasuda Misako, Kanjiya Shihori, Jinnai Takanori, 
Part One Synopsis: The Tsujiguchi family tragedy starts when their 3-years old daughter Rumiko is found murdered. Keizo, a respected doctor who runs his own hospital, blames his wife Natsue as he thinks she was having an affair with his colleague. To make her suffer more he decides to adopt a baby Youko without telling Natsue that the girl is the daughter of the man who killed Rumiko and later hang himself. He plans to reveal the truth once Natsue has given her heart to the child. It is difficult to forgive the ones you hate.
Part Two Synopsis: SPOILER!!! Youko survives and Takagi confesses that he lied - Youko is not Shaichi's daughter. Youko decides to go to college, but her real mother and younger brother appear on screen. In addition, both Toru and Kitahara are still in love with her and Saichi's real daughter is closer to them than they thought.
Rating: 3/5
It is based on same named novel by Miura Ayako. It was a mindf***. I cannot understand how can somebody have so much hatred in himself/herself. I had very diverse emotions while watching it - on one hand it was interesting and beautiful, but then again it got boring and slooooooooowww..

Youko was the most pitiful one in the movie. She got hurt so much, but she still loved Tsujiguchi family. For a little child it is painful to look for her parents from the crowd, but not to find them. It is amazing how she was able to cope with her mother's hatred. I give extra points for Ishihara Satomi acting, her shock scene was brilliant, on other scenes she did not need much acting skills, because Youko's character was always one and the same or amazed by Mother's pride.

Father Keizo was the first one to think about the plan to use Youko as revenge. It was horrible of him! It was cruel of him to hate little innocent girl for 9 years! It was a bit unfair of him to blame his wife too - but there is a saying that people in grief want to have somebody alive, who will suffer because of the blame. But after he started to love Youko as his own daughter, he turned into a wonderful father. 
Natsue has mental issues from the start, but sometimes it gets worse and she ends up as lunatic.

 I agreed that it was partly her fault that Ruriko was murdered - which mother lets under 3 years old girl go out on her own?! She was sinful woman, even though she actually did not cheat on Keizo, but that manipulating and flirting was O.o. Also, she was very royal, arrogant and lady-like. In the second part there is one very weird scene, which was the most difficult to understand, when two mothers talk and their talking turned into competition of who was the worst mother and the conclusion is "You have made great job raising her up.." and I was WTRamen?!

Tooru has a big sister-complex as he knows that Youko is not his real sister. Ever since Youko was little Tooru has protected her and I think that he cared the most about her. His feelings brought different thoughts to me - because they were not blood related, it was okey, but then again they were brother and sister who have grown up together (but would not that be still more like childhood friends who grow into lovers?)  He always says what is on his mind and is very honest - the most honest character in the movie that is full of lies. It is interesting to see jealousy from Tegoshi Yuya's face xD About his acting... same as all his that time movies/dramas.

Shortly about other characters. Murai was a playboy, bitch and total bastard - he had no feeling of responsibility, though in the end he might have felt some guilt in front of Matsuzaki Yukako. Yukako was Keizo's secretary, who was madly in love with Keizo - she was rather naive and thoughtless in her actions. Her feelings were pure and beautiful, but a bit over-exaggerated. My favourite character was Tatsuko - she said smart things and loved Youko as her own daughter. Tatsuya - Youko's real brother was a bit weird at first. It more looked like he tried to flirt with her, but later it was understandable that he just wanted to get to know his sister. Lastly, Junko was very outgoing and honest about her background, but later she disappeared from the scene. 
It is about forgiveness and how small the world actually is. The coolest thing in this movie is to see the improvements in society. As the story goes through 1946 to 1967 (in later 2006 too), then we can see how women's fashion changes and how the mechanics, as phones, TV-s and cars, improve.

SPOILER review: most of them are the negative reasons. First of all, Tegoshi Yuya and Kanjiya Shihori had a horrible kiss-scene. There were possibilities to do it into that scene beautifully, but it was just quick and he hardly kissed her! Also, I was disappointed that Youko married to Kitahara, because it truly felt like she did it out of sympathy. She always said that she is irreplaceable for Kitahara, but she never thought that she was the one and only for Toru. 
It is amazing how parents still loved each other - after 20 years of hating and revenge, they still loved each other. I guess that was the reason why they never thought of a divorce.