THE WORLD OF KANAKO reviewed; opens Friday in North American theaters & on multiple VOD platforms

Drafthouse Films

presents

 

The World of Kanako / Kawaki

Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima

Japan, 2014, 119 minutes

The World of Kaneko, an outstanding thriller from director Tetsuya Nakashima (Memories of Matsuko, Kamikaze Girls, and Confessions, Japan's submission to the 2011 Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category), will have its North American release this coming Friday, December 4th. The film will begin screening in select theaters on that date and subsequently have a wider roll-out. Also on the 4th, it will become available on multiple digital VOD platforms including Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vimeo, VHX and more. Information about the dates, cities, venues and online platforms can be found here.

Kanako's world consists of tawdry sex . . .

Outstanding, and handsome, Japanese actor Kôji Yakusho (13 Assassins, Babel, Shall We Dance?) plays against type as Akikazu Fujishima, a disheveled former police detective who is more than a bit mentally unhinged. Fujishima is divorced and has no contact with his ex-wife and his only child, a teenage daughter named Kanako, the lovely and talented newcomer Nana Komatsu.

illegal drugs . . .

When Kanako goes missing, his desperate wife contacts him and implores him to find her. His search leads him along a path of sex, drugs and a whole lot o' violence that totally undermines all that he though he know about his sweet, beloved offspring.

violence . . .

The film is based on Hateshinaki Kawaki, the award winning 2005 novel by Akio Fukamachi that largely had been deemed unfilmable because of its subject matter, violence and lack of a single really decent character with which audiences can identify. Fortunately for us lovers of extreme Asian film, Nakashima has pulled it off gloriously, creating an iconic movie that ranks right up there with Takashi Miike’s Ichi The Killer, one of my all time favorites.

and more violence.

A home video release of The World of Kaneko on Blu-ray and DVD is slated for early 2016. My advise is to see it now and buy it on home video later. You don't want to wait to catch this one and it definitely belongs in the collection of any serious fan.

AsianCineFest Rating: 4 out of 4 stars; most highly recommended.