Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit

There is a law: every child is vaccinated in primary school, and one in a thousand of the injections carries a lethal capsule. That person will die one day between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. Twenty-four hours before the death a government officer knocks on the door and delivers the document called an ikigami. The purpose is for everyone to know the value of life and to contribute more to society. The film follows the young officer who delivers these documents and tells three separate ikigami stories. The source is Motoro Mase's manga. Tomoyuki Takimoto directed. The setup is science fiction, but the film is not interested in technology; what it is interested in is how much the person enforcing such a law can carry. The officer comes apart a little more with every door he knocks on. The telling speaks too plainly in places and repeats its message, but the question it sets up stays strong.