Watashi ha kai ni naritai

I'd Rather Be a Shellfish

私は貝になりたい

Release Date: November, 22nd, 2008

Running Time: 139 min

Genre: Drama , Historical , Feature

Color: Color

Screening Format: 35mm

Screen Size: Cinema Scope (1:2.35)

Sound Processing: Dolby SR

[ Directed by ]

FUKUZAWA Katsuo

[ Produced by ]

SETOGUCHI Katsuaki

[ Cast ]

NAKAI Masahiro ── SHIMIZU Toyomatsu
NAKAMA Yukie ── SHIMIZU Fusae

[ Staff ]

HASHIMOTO Shinobu ── Screenplay
KATO Tetsutaro ── "KURUERU SENPAN SHIKEISHU" Regacy/Original Story/Title
HAMANA Kazuya ── Executive Producer
AZUMA Nobuhiro ── Producer
WADAKURA Kazutoshi ── Producer
KUROSAWA Kazuko ── Costume Designer
HISAISHI Joe ── Music

[ Production Company ]

I'd rather be a Shellfish Production Committee

[ Story ]

Original screenplay by Hashimoto Shinobu, a scriptwriter who participated in many Kurosawa Akira productions. The TV drama of the same title in 1958, for which he wrote the script, became extremely popular, and in 1959, he adapted it to a film as the director. This is the second film adaptation and Hashimoto revised the script himself. Music is by Hisaishi Joe, who has worked with Miyazaki Hayao and Kitano Takeshi.
An owner of a barber shop, Shimizu Toyomatsu (Nakai Masahiro), was ordered to execute an American soldier during WWⅡ when he was drafted, and he is arrested for the incident as a class B/C war criminal after being demobilized. In fact, Toyomatsu only wounded the soldier in his arm, but nonetheless, he is sentenced to death. Having heard the sentence, his wife, Fusae (Nakama Yukie) travels two days and nights to see him at Sugamo Prison. There she learns that Toyomatsu, who insists upon his innocence, is preparing a petition with his fellow death-row inmate, Nishizawa (Shofukutei Tsurube), to the American President to commute their sentences. Fusae, and a baby daughter who was born after Toyomatsu was taken into custody, endeavors to collect signatures to accompany the petition. For a time, death sentences are no longer carried out and hopes for release begin to appear, when a date is announced for Toyomatsu's execution.