When I see a new trailer for a Takashi Miike film, I feel obligated to post about. The busy Japanese director is one of the most interesting guys to watch and as he continues his transition into mainstream cinema, touching every genre known to man, it’s always cool to see the darkness he is known for infused into his work.
Up next for the prolific director is a film titled Straw Shield (Wara no Tate), a crime thriller that looks pretty intense, smart and suspenseful. Though the trailer below has no subtitles, if you read the plot synopsis and then watch it, you’ll see that this could be a solid hit for the man.
Based on a novel by Kiuchi Kazuhiro, the movie stars Fujiwara Tatsuya as a killer named Kunihide Kiyomaru, who murders the granddaughter of a powerful figure in the political and financial world (Yamazaki Tsutomu). A few months later, Kiyomaru discovers the man has offered a 1 billion yen reward to anyone who manages to kill him. Fearing for his own life, he turns himself in to Fukuoka Prefectural Police.
Five elite Security Police are tasked with escorting Kiyomaru from Fukuoka to Tokyo, but they’re repeatedly blocked by citizens and other police looking to collect on the reward and or exact revenge. Meanwhile, a conflict arises when one of the SP officers, Mekari Kazuki (Osawa Takao), begins to doubt if they should even bother protecting a despicable person like Kiyomaru while his partner, Shiraiwa Atsuko (Matsushima Nanako), remains duty-bound.
Straw Shield is set to hit Japanese theaters on April 26th and will most certainly be hitting the festival circuits later this year as well (fingers crossed the NYAFF adds it to their lineup).
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