‘Sono Kodo ni Mimi o Ateyo’: An absorbing dive into pressures of the ER

Television dramas have been an effective recruitment tool for hospitals — and emergency rooms in particular. From George Clooney in “ER” to Ryohei Suzuki in “Tokyo MER,” successive generations of TV doctors and nurses have brought an aura of glamor to a profession more often defined by endless night shifts, impossible workloads and lousy pay.

Early on during Takuro Adachi’s “Sono Kodo ni Mimi wo Ateyo” (which translates to “listen to that heartbeat”), Yu Sakuragi, a 26-year-old intern on ER rotation at Nagoya Ekisaikai Hospital, is asked what drew him to this line of work. It seemed cool, he says, mentioning Fuji TV’s hit series “Code Blue” as a source of inspiration (Tomohisa Yamashita has a lot to answer for, apparently).

His resolve will be put to the test during this TV Tokai-produced documentary, filmed over nine months at what’s reputedly the busiest ER in Aichi Prefecture.