Director – Daihachi Yoshida – 2020 – Japan – 112m
*****
Forward thinkers take on the conservative old guard within a Japanese publishing corporation – plays UK cinemas in the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2022 between Friday, 4th February and Thursday, 31st March
Megumi Takano (Mayu Matsuoka from One Night, Kazuya Shirashi, 2019; Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018; A Silent Voice, Naoko Yamada, 2016; Lesson Of Evil, Takashi Miike, 2012; Love Exposure, Sion Sono, 2008), daughter of local bookstore owner Takano (Shinya Tsukamoto), is as dedicated an editor as you’ll find anywhere in publishing. Alas, she lacks the political savvy needed to survive in its ruthless, corporate, dog-eat-dog world. When the owner of the publishing company Kunpu which employs her dies unexpectedly, she finds herself caught up in the machinations of a large organisation where some employees resist change while others plan to completely reinvent the business model to ensure the company’s survival, possibly at the expense of some of its employees.
Thus it is that new CEO Tamatsu (Koichi Sato from Fukushima 50, Setsuro Wakamatsu, 2020; Sukiaki Western Django, Takashi Miike, 2007; Where The Last Sword Is Drawn, Yojiro Takita, 2002) comes in with plans to restructure the company. When these are revealed later on, they involve a project called KIBA which has to do with vertical integration and the way publishing has hitherto worked in Japan.
Meanwhile the maverick Hayami (Yo Oizumi who has voiced such anime as Tokyo Ghoul, Kentaro Hagiwara, 2017; The Boy And The Beast, Mamoru Hosoda, 2015; When Marnie Was There, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2014; Howl’s Moving Castle, Hayao Miyazaki, 2004; The Cat Returns, Hiroyuki Morita, 2002; Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki, 2001) who has a reputation for using people to get his own way comes in as editor of secondary company magazine Trinity, on which sales have been failing for some time, with intent to revitalise the publication.
Various prior editorial gigs have served him well in terms who and what he knows, for example that cover girl and published writer Saki Joshima (Elaiza Ikeda from Isle Of Dogs, Wes Anderson, 2018) loves guns and worked on a manga early in her career, the latter a fact she’s never told her representation. Soon, Saki has signed up for a serialised manga version of one of her stories.
Miss Takano is the one person at Kunpu who rather than agreeing with everything authors write, do and say is prepared to tell them where their work needs changing. This gets her into hot water with high profile author Daisaku Nikaido (Jun Kunimura from Poupelle Of Chimney Town, Yusuke Hirota, 2021; ManHunt, John Woo, 2017; Shin Godzilla, Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi, 2016; The Wailing, Jin Na-hong, 2016; The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki, 2013; Like Father, Like Son, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2013; The Outrage, Takeshi Kitano, 2010; Kill Bill Vol. 1, Quentin Tarantino, 2003; 9 Souls, Toshiaki Toyoda, 2003; Ichii The Killer, Takashi Miike, 2001; Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle, Sogo Ishii, 2000; Audition, Takashi Miike, 1999; HardBoiled, John Woo, 1992; Black Rain, Ridley Scott, 1989 and more!!!) when she speaks frankly to him at a corporate event about how one of his novels could be improved.
Later, though, Hayumi sets her up for a restaurant meeting with the renowned author where she gets completely drunk keeping up with his serious imbibing of wine.
However, the thing about her is that she reads submission manuscripts and has extremely good judgement which enables her to spot gifted, new writer Hijiri Yashiro (Hio Miyazawa). After helping his inebriated editor to a taxi, Hayumi finds and reads his manuscript, which she has accidentally dropped. He immediately decides to serialise this first novel in Trinity with Miss Takano given the job of editing the serialisation.
There are other surprises in store too, including a character described in the credits as Mysterious Man (Lily Franky from A Day Off Of Kasumi Arimura, TV Series, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2020; Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018; After The Storm, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2016; Our Little Sister, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2015; Fires On The Plain, Shinya Tsukamoto, 2014; Like Father, Like Son, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2013). A woman shooting at a knife-wielding stalker which turns out to have been printed on a 3D printer, a debt to In The Line Of Fire (Wolfgang Petersen, 1993) which the script enthusiastically acknowledges. Yoshino Kimura (Confessions, Tetsuya Nakashima, 2010; Sukiaki Western Django, Takashi Miike, 2007; Sakuran, Mina Ninagawa, 2006) puts in a strong performance as Miss Takano’s boss Miss Enami. The high profile Japanese cast are impressive to a woman.
The movie constantly surprises and keeps you on the edge of your seat much like such Hollywood investigative journalism thrillers as All The President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976) or the more recent Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015), yet this is not so much about newspaper men investigating a story so much as corporate intrigues within a Japanese magazine/book publishing house itself, a very different milieu, so despite the similarities it’s a very different animal.
It further benefits from a terrific (mostly) funk score credited to Lite which sounds highly inappropriate but in fact helps deliver pace and move the story along well at several junctures (and is a pleasure to listen to into the bargain). In short, this is a compelling piece of work that deserves international distribution, but for now it’s great to see it in the JPF Touring Programme. Highly recommended.
KIBA: The Fangs Of Fiction plays plays UK cinemas in the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2022 between Friday, 4th February and Thursday, 31st March.
Trailer: