The 2016 Toronto International Film Festival hosted the world premiere for Sang-il Lee’s latest film titled “Rage”. Set to be released in Japan in late September, this film is based on the novel Anger by Shuichi Yoshida, who Lee had worked with previously for his film “Villain” (2010). Lee gravitated towards Yoshida’s novel due to the representation shown for dealing with the rage within ourselves.
The film began in Hachioji where the discovery of the horrifying murders of a couple were found, alongside rage written in blood. The message left Detective Kunihisa Nanjo (Pierre Taki) and his partner, Detective Sosuke Kitami (Takahiro Miura) confused as to what the message could mean from their killer.
Next the audience travels to the city of Chiba where Yohei Maki (Ken Watanabe) is introduced as he brings home his runaway daughter Aiko (Aoi Miyazaki). While trying to find her way back to normalcy, Aiko starts making and delivering her father’s lunch to him like she used to. On delivery, Aiko meets the mysterious Tashiro (Kenichi Matsuyama), a young co-worker of her father’s, who she instantly finds a connection with. With the Hachioji killer at large, Yohei’s concerns for Aiko continue to grow as she grows closer to the secretive Tashiro, who is running away from his past. The family dynamic is truly put to the test as they try to fix their broken relationship while also trying to figure out how this possible new addition could affect them.
The city of Tokyo holds another story with Yuma Fujita (Satoshi Tsumabuki) taking the lead. Yuma is a charismatic young man who often finds himself the life of the party. During one of his nights out, Yuma hooks up with the reluctantly shy Naoto Onishi (Gou Ayano), a newcomer to town. After knowing each other for a short amount of time, Yuma offers Naoto to stay with him. Shortly afterwards, Yuma introduces his ill mother (Hideko Hara) to Naoto, who offers to take care of her when Yuma is at work. Unaware of what Naoto does while he’s at work, Yuma’s suspicions of Naoto grows when he spots Naoto out with a beautiful girl (Mitsuki Takahata). The journey that Yuma faces with Naoto showcases the universal struggle of whether or not it’s best to open yourself up to someone and let them into your heart.
The final location featured is Okinawa Islands when teenagers Izumi Komiya (Suzu Hirose) and Tatsuya Chinen (Takara Sakumoto) travel for mini explorations. During one of their expeditions, Izumi stumbles upon Tanaka (Mirai Moriyama), a squatter in a broken abandoned home on the island. Intrigued by the mysterious traveler, Izumi visits him often and forms an odd friendship with Tanaka, which later extends to Tatsuya. Things take a turn for the worse when Izumi is struck with a terrible fate that leaves the trio reeling in different ways. Not only does this story feature the blooming bond between teen crushes but it also features the trusting innocence they both have with Tanaka and how it could affect their sense of judgement.
These three unrelated stories find themselves suddenly connected when the characters become aware of the Hachioji killer that could pose a threat to their well-being. As more information about the Hachioji killer is revealed by the police, our characters find themselves more terrified as they realize similarities between the fugitive and the mysterious strangers they have recently befriended. These doubts truly showcase the repercussions of trusting a stranger based on so little of an interaction. It puts to question how well people truly know one another before they could be trusted. It definitely shows on different levels how easily it is for the human nature to trust in each other and just how wrong that trust could be twisted until it destroys the initial perception they once held. It leaves you wondering just how far must you go to know someone before you could truly trust them?
Throughout the film, the identity of the Hachioji killer is cleverly hidden through well-placed camera angles and lighting. While the audience sees glimpses of the killer in his murderous rage, his identity is never revealed until the absolute end. The mystery truly has the audience on the edge of their seats as they try to figure out who the true killer is before it’s too late.
This film also showed universal concepts among the three unrelated stories. The concept of rage and what it truly means to feel such emotion was persistent throughout the film as we see the characters each experience and deal with the rage inside them differently. It gives the added edge of this emotion being a key tie to the killer. Other feelings like helplessness and defeat are featured and just how the characters view and deal with these emotions is truly telling in how they would react to future scenarios.
Original Title: Ikari
Director: Sang-il Lee
Writer: Shuichi Yoshida (novel)
Screenplay: Sang-il Lee
Country of Origin: Japan
Language: Japanese | English
Length: 142 minutes
Original Release: September 17, 2016
Publication Note:
This was published in Volume 12, Issue 4 of AsianWave Magazine.
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