Suicide is the worst way to go. Elderly suicide is a negative thing in itself, even being used in a not-so-good Simpsons episode. As the audience struggled to get seated as this was a popular film, I sat and started to think back on my attempts at suicide, only for me to chicken out because I was pretty cowardly back then and couldn’t follow through with a lot. Maybe that’s kind of relieving seeing where I am today. Now onto the movie, where in modern-day Japan, it seems like the population is overflowing with senior citizens and a new plan called Plan 75 has been implemented, allowing assisted death for senior citizens, where they can go to a special care centre and live out the last of their lives before being put to death by a medical process. While it may handle the overbearing amount of seniors in the public, it certainly isn’t better for the younger generations or those in between. For example, Michi (Chieko Baiso), a cleaning lady is not comfortable with hearing and dealing with it, Hiromu (Hayato Isomura) who works there starts out just fine, until his Uncle Yukio (Taka Takao) signs up for the program, and migrant care worker Maria (Stefanie Arianne) already has enough what with her mother getting involved in the program. Hiromu’s uncle follows through with the whole thing despite Hiromu building up a close personal relationship with him, and while the customers have a lot of fun with what they do while waiting to die, is it really worth it?
It’s a dark film, with some occasionally funny moments, but it’s absolutely chilling. Lots of people are saying this is what a capitalist government and it’s things like this that make me glad I’m not a capitalist…. anymore (gave up long ago, backstory is too irrelevant for this review). The story does seem a bit flawed and all over the place, but it does give off some good characters and even better plot details. Plus the locations and the ominous colouring are beautiful if unsettling. A movie you have to see that will make you look back on life, and maybe even care a lot more about your elders.
Plan 75 has made its rounds, but feel free to watch it on the VIFF app. It’s worth it.