Between comedy and medical drama Tetsui Taguchi has a permanent erection problem. Many people would be happy, but not Tetsuya. Because of this, he can hardly work. And when you have to go with customers to hot springs, he just does not find a place for himself. In addition, constant stress, from which he can find salvation only in the pool. Suzumi Iwamura's problem is sclerosis. She is a journalist and has frequent business trips. However, leaving the house, she can not calm down - it seems to her that she forgot to turn off the iron or air conditioner. You always have to go home to check. What unites these two people is that they become patients of the eccentric Dr. Irabu, who has special treatments. He doesn’t seem to know the concept of ethics. He treats patients like old acquaintances, taunts them, and sometimes even humiliates them – all in order to break their old psychological attitude. However, patients do not understand this immediately.
Dr. Irabu, who doesn’t seem serious at first, discovers the strange irrational logic of his treatment. Its essence is to radically change the point of view of the patient on himself. There is nothing that can stop Irabu in this way. He does not even hesitate to be obscene and infantile. In principle, his behavior demonstrates the main maxim of psychoanalytic treatment - a person should be free in his desires and methods of satisfying them. But even though Irabu understands this, he is not portrayed as a magician who can heal anyone instantly. Still, he looks more like a eccentric, albeit kind, than a real specialist doctor. And Tetsuye for a long time helps the pool rather than talking to Irabu. After all, the doctor can answer incongruously or put his answer into a dead end, endlessly question and answer the question with a question - in general, he is a modern Socrates, taking birth with the truth. He confuses the interlocutor to lead him to insight.
“In the pool” is a very funny movie, fearlessly addressing the topic of mental disorders. However, the disorders were chosen harmless. In the animated series “Kuchu Buranko”, the gallery will be wider. The film partially preserves the spirit of the future anime, but in expressiveness it is still inferior to it. One reason for this is that the anime came out very focused on medical history, and the film was given a broader context. Anyway, the movie “In the pool” turned out bright and original. This is not quite a comedy and not quite a medical drama, but something in between and therefore original.
8 out of 10