This portrait of Communist novelist Mitsuharu Inoue chronicles the writer’s struggles to overcome the effects of liver cancer. In another director’s hands, Inoue’s story might become hagiography but in typical fashion, Hara cuts to the core of his subject. He reveals a man who cheats on his wife and lies about his past accomplishments despite being revered by his students and colleagues. Notwithstanding these revelations, Hara remains sympathetic to this larger-than-life subject.