In “I Just Didn’t Do It,” 26 year old Teppei Kaneko is late for an all important job interview. The morning rush hour subway train is about to leave the station. Teppei sees that the doors are about to close and makes a jump into the nearest cab train. A subway worker makes sure he fits into the overfilled train by pushing him further into the crowded mass. As soon as the doors close, Teppei realizes that the back of his coat jacket is stuck in the subway train door. Teppei maneuvers to pull his jacket out, but bumps into the lady on his right. He apologizes to her, but fiddles around again to get his jacket out. When the train stops again, Teppei walks off the train, but a young 15 year old girl grabs his hand and accuses him of groping her from behind.

Teppei goes to the police station, bewildered and shocked that he is accused of groping, but nonetheless confident that once he states his case the police will let him go. For Teppei, this is just the beginning of his long ordeal to prove that he just didn’t do it.

One of the most effective aspects of the film is the portrayal of Teppei’s state of mind during his long judicial ordeal. Representing the mindset of Japanese citizens at large, Teppei never questioned the astounding 99.99% conviction rate prior to his arrest, believing that the innocent would be found innocent regardless of that astounding statistics. In actuality the rigid Japanese legal system is built to extract guilty pleas as soon as possible and if it does go to trial, well it would be a slap to the face of the prosecutors and police officers to acquit the defendant.

It was also nice to see Ryo Kase take center stage in “I Just Didn’t Do It.” Known more for his many supporting roles in hip indie films like “Taste of Tea,” “Funky Forest,” “Sukida,” “Strawberry Shortcakes,” it seems Kase’s strong performance in “Letters from Iwo Jima” has opened the eyes of more mainstream directors like this film’s Masayuki Suo (Shall We Dance?). The sky’s really the limit for Ryo Kase.

Pacing in “I Just Didn’t Do It” is deliberate, without the dramatics you have seen in many other courtroom filled dramas. Because of this, the movie’s subjective (but comes across as objective) examination of the Japanese legal system will likely open the eyes of many to the flaws found within the Japanese legal system. More depth in the depiction of the police officers and prosecutors would have taken the film to spectacular heights, but as it stands, “I Just Didn’t Do It” is a very good film that’s easily digestible for the masses.