The Third Murder (2017)

The Third Murder is the kind of courtroom mystery that doesn’t just ask “what happened?”—it quietly insists you consider why truth can feel so slippery when filtered through law, guilt, and self-preservation. Hirokazu Kore-eda directs with a masterful calm, turning interviews, evidence, and small shifts in testimony into a captivating puzzle that keeps reconfiguring itself in your mind. The performances are powerful in a restrained, human way, letting doubt and moral unease seep in without grand speeches or easy answers. If you want a propulsive whodunit with neat closure, this may feel deliberately elusive, but if you’re drawn to intriguing, ethically thorny dramas that linger long after the verdict, it’s a must-watch.

The Third Murder wants to be a morally knotty courtroom mystery, less about “who did it” and more about how the legal system shapes the truth, and that’s an intriguing aim. The problem is it can feel padded in the back half, circling the same beats with a measured pace that some will read as thoughtful and others as repetitive. If you’re after a tight procedural with clean revelations and satisfying closure, the deliberately murky answers and a few dangling threads may leave you irritated rather than impressed. Still, the performances and restrained atmosphere have a quiet pull, so it’s best for viewers who enjoy ambiguity and slow-burn tension over neat resolutions.