Yesterday, the NYAFF hosted the world premiere of Twisted Justice, the opening night film for the festival’s 15th anniversary. Hailing from Japan, this crime epic inspired by the biggest scandal in Japanese police history stars Go Ayano, Shido Nakamura, Young Dais, Yukio Ueno and Pierre Taki.
Spanning over three decades, Kazuya Shiraishi Twisted Justice follows the career of Detective Moroboshi (Ayano), a quiet Judoka who is recruited by the police to help them win a championship. He is taken under the wing Murai (Taki) who teaches him how to move forward and earn respect within his precinct and the community. As you may have imagined, this involves working with those on the other side of the law, and eventually utilizing informants and illegal methods to get results. Eventually, he develops a reputation for being a “results by any means necessary” type of guy, one who is also aggressive, sex-obsessed and downright mean, similar to a Yakuza. Only time will tell if Moroboshi’s methods will take him to new heights or if they’ll cause his ultimate downfall.
In some ways, Twisted Justice feels like the cop version of Goodfellas, in others, it offers a feeling of familiarity, as if I’ve seen this character arc plenty of times. While it is inspired by true events, it would be wrong to dismiss the film for its lack of originality completely. The film, while rather long, does a decent job of showcasing the transition of Moroboshi’s selfish character, from a shaky nervous detective to one self-absorbed in his own power, wealth and success that it begins to blind him, sending him down a hole that he finds more and more difficult to dig himself out of. The surprising part of the transitional element is that the change happens so quickly; In fact, it’s very Japanese from an obedience/ambitious perspective that it actually worked, which took me by surprise.
My main issue with this film is that the acting was way too over the top. Moroboshi spends the second half of the film yelling most of the time, trying to cover up people’s mistakes or making cases why he needs certain resources to get things done. It’s exhausting to watch and rather than take a gentler approach that would have left more of a dramatic impact, we’re stuck here watching a self-destructive detective yell for an hour to no avail.
For the opening night film, I was pretty disappointed in Shiraishi’s film and overall selection. I was hoping for a crime epic that was compelling, somewhat inventive, and intense, maybe like Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage, but instead I got a rehash of Hard Boiled-like films of yesteryear without anything original added to differentiate it. While inspired by true events, this sweeping crime epic feel flat but, look at the bright side, at least most of the movies I see next will likely be better.
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