is a 1994 Japanese documentary and

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typ ...

film directed by Kazuo Hara about writer Mitsuharu Inoue. It shows the last four years of Inoue's life while fighting cancer, and tries to capture his character and the influence he had on the people around him.

Synopsis

Filming Inoue both at public appearances and in private, and interviewing fellow writers like

Yutaka Haniya was a noted Japanese writer and critic. Biography Haniya was born in Taiwan, then a Japanese colony, to a samurai family named Hannya after the ''Hannya Shingyo'' ( Heart Sutra). He had a sickly childhood and suffered from tuberculosis in his ...

as well as former pupils of Inoue's literary training centers, some of which speak frankly about their affair with their married teacher, Kazuo Hara draws a portrait of a multi-faceted personality: socially committed and egotistical, extroverted and hiding behind a persona. Additionally, the film contains scenes which re-enact Inoue's childhood and youth according to his own accounts, which are partially put into question by statements from relatives.

Cast

* Mitsuharu Inoue * Yutaka Haniya * Jakuchō Setouchi * Hiroshi Noma * Ikuko Inoue * Kim Gumija as Mother Takako * Yoshie Yamamoto as Grandmother Saka * Haruhi Iso as Choi Tsuruyo * Masayuki Kubota as Mitsuharu as youth * Hiroya Sugiyama as Mitsuharu as child

Production

Early into the film's production, Inoue was diagnosed with liver metastasis, underwent an operation (which is shown in detail) and continued his work as a writer and teacher. He died in May 1992.

Reception

Upon the film's presentation at the Forum section of the 1995

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

, critic

David Stratton David James Stratton (born 10 September 1939) is an English-Australian award-winning film critic, as both a journalist and interviewer, film historian and lecturer and television personality and producer. Life and career Born in Trowbridge, ...

, writing for

Variety magazine ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

, called ''A Dedicated Life'' "riveting viewing, and, in the end, extremely moving", and "a demanding, but most impressive, film portrait".

Awards

* 19th

Hochi Film Award The are film-specific prizes awarded by the '' Hochi Shimbun''. Categories *Best Picture *Best International Picture *Best Animated Picture (since 2017) *Best Actor *Best Actress *Best Supporting Actor *Best Supporting Actress *Best New Artist ...

for Best Film * 49th

Mainichi Film Award The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 193 ...

for Best Film * 68th

Kinema Junpo Award , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ...

for Best Film * 18th

Japan Academy Film Prize The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

– Special Award for Kazuo Hara

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dedicated Life 1994 films 1994 documentary films Films directed by Kazuo Hara Japanese documentary films Documentary films about writers Best Film Kinema Junpo Award winners 1990s Japanese films