December

Katsu (international star Shogen) is a former novelist whose career has stalled since his teen daughter was viciously murdered by a classmate. When he learns that the killer is now being retried since she had been convicted as an adult despite being 17 at the time, he's enraged. He enlists his ex-wife to cooperate in the prosecution's efforts to prevent the "monster" from being released from prison early. As the couple embarks on an agonizing moral journey, they are forced to confront not only their own past mistakes, but difficult questions of punishment, the thirst for vengeance, and the price of forgiveness -- especially when surprising facts are revealed. This riveting courtroom drama, written and directed by non-Japanese, wrestles with the controversial imprisonment of juvenile offenders and the gray areas of Japan's criminal justice system, where the conviction rate is 99%.