The film opens at the scene of a homicide with the murderer setting fire to a corpse. He confesses his crime shortly after, making a lawyer named Shigemori begrudgingly take the case. As Misumi already has a prior conviction for homicide, a death sentence seems inevitable. So, Shigemori’s goal is to reduce the punishment to a life sentence. Dialogue commences with Misumi to grasp his motives, but confusion sets in as pieces of truth and fragments of the incident begin to emerge. Fans of director Kore-eda, whose subject has been the family story for years, may feel disconcerted by this movie. However, The Third Murder is a crime thriller set in the courtroom and poses questions about the legal system, and furthermore, broaches the fundamental problem of human nature and evil. Both Yakushyo Koji who plays the murderer and Fukuyama Masaharu as the successful lawyer outdo each other in powerful performances, while the talented Hirose Suzu appears as Sakie, the daughter of the murdered man, who holds the secret to the entire case. (KIM Young-woo)