For years now, Kane (Les Mahoney) has lived a quiet life as a model American citizen, working at an insignificant job and his greatest joy being going for walks with his dog - when suddenly he receives a message that reminds him of his other life he has almost forgotten. Thing is, he's also an operative for a top secret organisation - American, Russian, of some other power, the viewer's left in the dark - that gets its hands dirty all over the world without anyone taking much notice. Now Kane has thought his work for the organisation long over with and assumed the organisation to have been long disassembled - and suddenly he finds himself en route to Japan, to scatter the ashes of colleague and friend Harry (Shaun Asakura), someone who has wanted out of the service and whose conscience has caught the better of him - according to Kane's handler (Bill Oberst jr). Thing is, Kane has shared the views of Harry and has presumed himself out already - and ultimately, he has another contract on his hands, but even after mission accomplished, he doesn't know if it wouldn't be the best to run ... but if so, where to?

The anti-thesis to stunt heavy spy flicks like the James Bond series of movies, this one very much questions everything most often taken for granted in genre fare, from right and wrong to good and evil, and moves in a moral grey area throughout, also because it remains very sketchy about its own story - and fittingly so as the lead character seems to be in a constant state of literally losing the plot, not knowing whom or what (including his own senses) to even trust anymore. And this is brought to life not only by a script that enjoys keeping things in the dark but also by a strong central performance by co-writer/director Les Mahoney, and by a directorial effort that often chooses the associative over the chronological, and that also on a visual level leaves many questions unanswered and things intentionally vague. So not your typical genre flick, but a very worthy meditation on the genre nevertheless.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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