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A LONE SCALPEL (KOKO NO MESU) (Past Film)
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Completed - JAPANESE - Drama - 126 minutes

Log Line

A humanist drama portraying a brilliant surgeon who single-handedly takes on a decadent hospital system in the belief that ‘patients come first’.

Previous markets

  • Cannes 2010 (Premiere)
Full history

Year of production : 2010

Director(s) : Izuru NARUSHIMA
Writer(s) : Masato KATO
Cast : Shinichi TSUTSUMI, Yui NATSUKAWA, Hisashi YOSHIZAWA

Producer(s) : Kazuhito AMANO (TOEI)

Synopsis

Published in 2007, Kokou no Mesu is a best-seller with sales of over 900,000 that digs deep into one of the great taboos of Japanese medicine. Author Toshihiko Ohgane is himself a doctor with more than 6,000 surgeries to his credit who currently works on remote Awaji Island in western Japan. He has long championed his patients against the medical system in such matters as swiftly informing cancer victims of the nature of their disease, and opening operations to patients’ families.
The film is a humanist drama portraying a brilliant surgeon, uninterested in promotion or honors, who single-handedly takes on a decadent hospital system in the belief that ‘patients come first’. With out-and-out malpractice, and lack of qualified sending patients in ambulances from hospital to hospital in search of care, there is a growing lack of trust in the medical system. Taking an unflinching look at the confusion facing medical practice, this is a hospital drama that sounds a warning to the system over such matters as organ transplants and care in regional facilities outside of large urban areas.

Production

Country(ies) : JAPAN

Start of shooting : June 2010


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