However...

The television documentary However..., was Kore-eda's first film made in collaboration with the independent production company TV Man Union, and was screened on Fuji TV as part of their late night NONFIX factual strand. While the film's central focus is that of Japanese social policy and welfare, and issues surrounding the government's response to the Minimata disease, the narrative structure introduces many strategies and techniques more familiar to fictional cinema. After researching Japan's welfare system, Kore-eda picked two people to be the film's protagonists, Harashima Nobuko and Yamanouchi Toyonori. Both had committed suicide, the former after having her benefit payments revoked, and the latter amidst controversy around his position as the Planning and Co-ordination Chief at the Environment Agency. © wildtyme.blogspot.b