A bout of terminal cancer alters the course of a man's life in completely unexpected ways in Walking My Life (AKA Zo No Senaka), Japanese director Satoshi Isaka's thoughtful domestic drama. At age 48, Yukihiro Fujiyama (Koji Yakusho) has virtually everything a man could want - a respectable job as a project chief at a real estate company, a satisfying marriage and two children. When the said diagnosis hits, however, it prompts Yukihiro to both shun conventional treatment and set about righting past wrongs from his life - he visits his undeclared high school love to inform her of his feelings, reestablishes contact with his estranged brother (Ittoku Kishibe) and re-initiates a friendship with his buddy from high school. Problematically, however, Yukihiro finds that he is somehow unable to inform his wife of the impending disease, even as he struggles with an even graver secret of which she is unaware. When she finally learns of the cancer and questions her husband about his reason for concealing the disease, he declares that, however much time he has left, he would much rather live for today than for the future.
by Nathan Southern
synopsis
