Sexual assault was once rarely prosecuted in Japan. Now, however, more victims are coming forward, most recently three Cambodian women who have filed a suit against their one-time employer, a strawberry farmer in Tochigi Prefecture they allege repeatedly raped one of them and inappropriately touched the other two. The farmer has claimed that sexual relations with the one woman were consensual.
Wading into this whirlpool of accusations and denials is “More Than Words,” TV veteran Takashi Watanabe’s first feature about a fledgling scriptwriter (Kou Maehara) whose career is derailed by an alleged rape.
Based on Watanabe’s original script, the film steers a middle course through the whirlpool. Instead of a clarion call to trust all women or a cynical dismissal of victims’ claims, it aims to show that both sides can be in the wrong.
