The World of Kanako

A dream house in the high-rise, a lovingly obedient housewife and a beauty queen daughter is the dream of every Japanese salaryman … and of rouse for a middle-aged private detective Fujikawa as well. But the dream is shattered to shards as hallucination brought on by yet another drinking spree of brute Fujikawa, who’s not only fired from his police job, but also divorced due to beating up his wife’s lover. Suffering from suddens bouts of rage and and violence the detective is suddenly brought back to reality by a shocking phone call from the ex – their teenage daughter Kanako has gone missing.

A visit of reconciliation to the family, but slowly starts to reveal increasingly disturbing secrets about the Kanako, her friends, and the seemingly flawless life of a middle class Japanese family’s with a plenty of skeletons in the closet to hide. In search for Kanako Fujisawa sinks deeper and deeper into the Japanese underworld facing nightmarish discoveries about the true nature of his all-adored daughter.

Tetsuya Nakashima’s “The World of Kanako” is an über-stylish dark thriller following thematic and visual tropes of his critics and audience lauded “Confessions” (2010). Based on Akio Fukamachi’s scandalous bestseller, and featuring an intense lead by Japanese actor legend Koji Yakusho, the film pays homage to pop art, Tarantino and Miami Vice via its hyperspeed edit and exploding J-Pop soundtrack. Dissecting mercilessly the darker side of Japanese society anno 2014, Nakashima has a lot to say on the contemporary youths engaging acts of subversion from drug trade to prostitution, yet again the fault is equally to be blamed on ignorant schoolteachers, reckless psychiatrists prescribing Prozac without consideration, and dysfunctional families where the parents are not any better than their siblings. Welcome to the wonderful world of Kanako!

PÖFF / Sten Saluveer

Japan 2014