The Sea of Trees

THE SEA OF TREES jumps around in time to tell the story of Arthur (Matthew McConaughey), a struggling adjunct science professor, who is married to Joan, a high-functioning alcoholic real estate agent (Naomi Watts). They argue about nothing and avoid any real discussions about what's bothering them. Arthur recognizes that a stupid affair he had years before was a mistake, but he seems unable to explain to Joan that he loves only her. She lives in constant loud resentment, pretending her grievance is that Arthur doesn't make enough money in his pursuit of intellectual achievement. Unshaven and broken down, Arthur arrives at an infamous Japanese forest where suicidal people go to hang themselves or take deliberate drug overdoses. Arthur has pills, a bottle of water, and his wife's favorite children's book along. But as he starts to take the pills, he encounters Takumi (Ken Watanabe), a man in suit and tie weakened by blood loss from ineptly slashed wrists. Shamed by the fact that he can't support his wife and family, he had opted for an honor suicide, but now, lost in the forest, wants only to return to his family. Hearing his moaning, Arthur interrupts his own suicide to help get Takumi out of the forest. The forest, however, fights back. Arthur falls down ravines and gets impaled on a tree limb. He falls again and injures his leg. Flash flooding nearly drowns the hapless pair. Wet and freezing, they find a corpse in a tent and take his clothes and use his lighter to make a fire. A walkie talkie still works but doesn't connect to a signal. Takumi offers spiritual salve -- that Arthur's wife will always be with him -- while Arthur whines that he didn't even know his wife's favorite color or season. When Takumi becomes too weak to go on, Arthur covers him with the raincoat his wife gave him and promises to come back for him. After Arthur is rescued, authorities assure him that no other person is on record as having entered the forest.