Ken Watanabe concentrates on his character acting in the film Ashita no kioku (Memories of Tomorrow) as he plays a man who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of forty nine.

It's something of a break for him from the characters we in the west are used to seeing him play, and it sounds like it's a great move for the star. We're used to seeing him play these incredibly strong characters and to see him play a real and very vunerable man will be nothing but a positive for the audience.

Not only that but he's playing a man with a severe mental illness in Japanese society, something that we in the west treat very differently.

The story from Coming Soon tells us that the film was very successful in Japan earning some US$24 million and it was nominated for five awards.

Ken Watanabe's performance of a man showing the growing symptoms of Alzheimer's and how he, and the people around him, are affected by this terrible and scary disease.

Diseases that affect the mind are perhaps my biggest fear in life, and so I know I'll be personally touched by this film, and with Watanabe in the driving seat it should make for an even more fascinating story. Let's hope that Ashita no kioku (Memories of Tomorrow) sees an International release.