Sakuma (Naohito Fujiki), creative director in a large advertising
company, has just lost a top contract to an inhouse competitor, and he
blames it all on bossy and self-righteous Katsuragi (Ryo Ishibashi), boss
of the client company.
One day, when he walks by Katsuragi's house though, he sees his
daughter Juri (Yukie Nakama) climb over the wall surrounding the premises.
Out of curiosity, he follows her, and before you know it, she has moved in
with him, and has persuaded him to help her in faking her own kidnapping
to get back at her father, with the intention to share the ransom money in
the end.
At first, Sakuma is less than convinced by the idea, but before long he
develops a certain kind of criminal energy, and a water-proof plan for
collecting the ransom money - plus he and Juri start a stormy affair.
The handing over of the ransom money works out as planned, too, but
then Sakuma leanrs that Juri has died, and has died on the day she has
gone missing - and he finds out his Juri isn't Juri at all but her sister
Chiharu, who has killed Juri in an accident and now she and her father had
made up the whole kidnapping plot to clear Chiharu of the whole thing and
have Sakuma as a scapegoat. Also, Chiharu now claims she has never loved
Sakuma in the fkirst place - but Sakuma knows she is lieing. So, to get
back at Katsuragi, he persuades Chiharu to go to Australia with him and
makes up another kidnapping plot, knowing quite well that Katsuragi will
arrive at the scene with the police this time - and he serves them with
the perfect scapegoat for the whole thing, the real Juri's no-good
boyfriend who has driven her to drug-addiction.
Seeing Chiharu in Sakuma's arms all of a sudden tells Katruragi he's
lost the game after all, something he's not used to ... but in the
end, everybody loses, as Chiharu decides she has to atone for having
killed Juri - even though it was an accident - and leaves Sakuma to move
back in with her father ...
A film that has two sides to it: The build-up, when Sakuma and Chiharu
make up an elaborate kidnapping plot, works really well on a storytelling
level (and isn't even let down by the impersonal, too-slick-for-its-own
good direction), but the first climax (when Sakuma learns he was
double-crossed by everyone) is a definite letdown, simply because it seems
to lack the necessary enthusiasm on every level (narrative and directorial
alike), and everything that happens after that, including a love story and
a second kidnapping plot never again matches the intensity of the initial
build-up.
So I guess the film is watchable, but be warned, the whole conclusion
is a bit of a disappointment, plus at approximately 110 minutes, it runs a
good half hour too long.
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