- DIR. HIROSHI SHOJI
- CAST. SHINSUKE KATO, KATSUYA MAIGUMA, KISETSU FUJIWARA, SHUNA IIJIMA
- YEAR. 2015
- COUNTRY. JAPAN
- RUN-TIME. 96 MINS
- RATING. 15
£6.00 (£4.50 conc.)
Doors 7:15PM
Film 7:45PM
One of the most lauded debuts to come out of Japan this decade, director Hiroshi Shoji’s film explores the darker side of Tokyo suburb Ichikawa through the volatile relationship between partners in crime Ken and Kazu. Two friends who use an auto-repair shop as a front for their burgeoning drug trafficking business, when Ken's girlfriend Saki falls pregnant and he needs money to pay for his Alzheimers’-stricken mother's care, he tries to expand the operation, only to find himself the target of unwanted attention from the local yakuza. Shot with an eye for gritty realism, Ken and Kazu won the coveted Best Picture Award at the 2015 Tokyo International Film Festival and is one of the most acclaimed films to emerge from the Japan's contemporary indie circuit.
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“Shoji doesn’t hold back - this is not a ‘gun movie’ but one where violence is brute force and brutal, a bloody intimacy that is shared between assailant and victim and which the director makes sure we hunker in close to see.”
“Shoji should be one to watch for the future”
“Gritty directness and power... the yakuza isn’t all guns and glamour”
“Realism and unpretentiousness... the strength of the characters and story see the film through”