Dr. Akagi

Two-time Palm d'Or-winning director Shoei Imamura returns from his 1997 triumph THE EEL with this warm, episodic tale of a humble family doctor who remains committed to his art, even on the eve of atomic annihilation. It's spring 1945, and the world according the villagers of one Japanese island appears to be coming to an end. Each day Allied bombers fly closer overhead, food gets harder to come by and the young men of the village continue to die in distant battles. But Dr. Agaki (Akira Emoto) has more important things on his mind: Wherever he looks, he sees jaundice and enlarged livers -- sure signs of hepatitis -- and he's convinced that the Japanese people are ...