The Third Murder

The Third Murder (三度目の殺人, Sandome no Satsujin) is a 2017 Japanese legal thriller film written, directed and edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda. It was screened in the main competition section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival.

At approximately 12:30 am on October 11, 2017, while walking by the Tama River, a man bludgeons another to death and sets him on fire.

At Yokohama Detention Center, Shigemori, a criminal defense attorney, and Kawashima, his assistant, meet Misumi, the suspect, who is charged with robbery^α and murder. 30 years ago, Misumi was first charged with robbery and murder but the judge – Shigemori’s father – ruled against him receiving the death penalty; Misumi has recently been released. According to the previous attorney, Settsue, who has recently handed the case to Shigemori, Misumi frequently changes his story.

Misumi states that the man he killed is the owner of the food factory in Kawasaki he has recently been fired from and that he committed the murder to pay off some debts. He also claims to have committed the act while under the influence, but Settsue counters that last time, he claimed that he had been contemplating the act for some time. Misumi states that after murdering him, he ran back to the factory to get gasoline and while burning him, burned his own hand.

Shigemori and Kawashima decide that the best legal strategy is to reduce the charges. One day, while walking past the crime scene, they notice a cross on the ground from the burning and a teenage girl who walks with a limp, and suspect she is somehow connected to the case. After looking at surveillance video footage and examining the wallet, they determine that Misumi took the wallet after committing the murder, so the charges should be theft and murder, and they dispute his intent to steal. Shigemori visits the victim’s family with a letter written by Misumi addressed to them; he is met by his teenage daughter – the girl with a limp – and his wife, who refuses to forgive Misumi. Meanwhile, Kawashima interviews workers at the factory and learns that Misumi was having arguments with the factory owner over his wages; Shigemori decides that while he does not have the facts, they could best defend Misumi by arguing that the motive is grudge for being fired.

The trio visit Misumi again, this time showing him a magazine he may have come across that includes an article about a wife that paid a man to murder her husband for insurance. Connecting it with 500,000 yen transferred into Misumi’s bank account shortly before the murder occurred, the attorneys reason that Misumi was hired by the owner's wife to murder her husband. Misumi agrees. He then states the owner’s wife contacted him two weeks before the murder and after the murder, told him that if he kept her out of it, she would take care of him. The attorneys see this as an opportunity to weaken the case against Misumi by implicating the wife in conspiracy and aiding and abetting.

After school, Shigemori tails Sakie, the victim’s daughter. His father tells him that Misumi murdered for money and to not waste time figuring him out, but Shigemori believes that the motive is different and journeys to Rumoi, Misumi’s hometown. On the way, he reads the postcard Misumi addressed to his father, in which he recalls playing in the snow with his daughter, Megumi; Shigemori imagines himself there with them.

In Rumoi, Shigemori and Kawashima visit the man who arrested Misumi for his first robbery and murder; he claims that while the official motive was grudge, he speculates that his lawyer forced him to claim that to avoid the death penalty. They go to a bar and ask a man whether Misumi has sent his estranged daughter, Megumi, any money or tried to contact her, but he claims to not know and states that she wants him dead and will not testify for him.