Dear Doctor movie review

After watching Sway and talking to a friend about it, I was recommended Nishikawa Miwa's other movie Dear Doctor. While Sway's twist didn't work for me, she did direct Dreams for Sale/Yume uru Futari which I love.

Dear Doctor is about a doctor who works in the country, played by rakugo actor Tsurube Shofukutei and Eita is the intern who is doing work placement at the village. The movie begins with the disappearance of the doctor and through flashbacks we slowly see the build up to his disappearance and the secret of this country town.

So the big secret is that the doctor is fake with only the village chief, the experienced nurse and the medical salesman being in on it. I don't consider this a spoiler because Dear Doctor is about how this fake doctor is so crucial to the village. How its less that the villagers need his medical skills and more that they need someone to turn to. It is actually better to know it beforehand so you can enjoy all the knowing/worried glances and facial expressions.

I love the scene in the beginning where this old person is dying and the fake doctor was relieved the old man died so he didn't have to do the intubation and the daughter in law was relieved she no longer had to look after him.

Dear Doctor is about how being a doctor is more than just diagnosing and prescribing medication especially in a rural town where everyone is living far away from each other. One of the police officers said in the end, the villagers were more likely to kill them to keep their doctor. The fake doctor started doing this for money but being put on a pedestal and the heavy responsibilities forced him to try his best. As Eita's character says in the movie, he's glad he finally met a real doctor, not someone like his father who only thinks about business management.


I have to say its wonderfully acted but the pacing was very slow. After watching I thought it was an ok movie but it didn't do anything for me. Then I started thinking about the characters and their motivations and what what they meant and slowly I began to think a lot about the movie.

Dear Doctor is a movie where a lot of things aren't explained. The story on the face of it is very simple it says a lot of interesting about rural and urban life which Sway/Yureru also dealt with. I really recommend it if you're interested in a not explain too much movie. The only place you can get this movie is avistaz.