Friends Kenta and Jun are like brothers. Having grown up together in an orphanage, they now both graft away in a demolition squad, bullied and blackmailed by their boss, who has some unfinished business with Kenta’s older brother Kazu. One night, the two friends pick up a simple-minded girl called Kayo. The three of them take revenge on those who have exploited them before heading off to Hokkaido in a stolen car, where Kazu is serving a long prison sentence.
The relationships are raw, violent and without compassion. Mistreated creatures pass the humiliations and abuses they have suffered on to others. Kayo, who is used, bad-mouthed, robbed and finally abandoned by Kenta und Jun, is the only one to say what everyone else’s aimless rage prevents them from expressing: "I want to be loved."
In his second stylistically assured feature, director Omori concentrates on the fundamentals: his actors. The film tells its story for the most part via their faces, whose mask-like hardness is not capable of concealing the emotional neediness beneath. Last but not least, the film reunites audiences with the fantastic Ando Sakura, whose talent could last be appreciated in Love Exposure.
Christoph Terhechte
Production: Little More Co., Ltd., Tokyo; Filmmakers Inc., Tokyo
Screenplay: Omori Tatsushi
Camera: Otsuka Ryo
Cast: Matsuda Shota, Kora Kengo, Ando Sakura, Miyazaki Masaru, Arai Hirofumi
Format: 35mm, color
Running time: 131 min.
Language: Japanese
