The World of Kanako


The World of Kanako is a 2014 Japanese suspense film directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, starring Kōji Yakusho and Nana Komatsu. It was released on 4 July 2014, and is based on the novel by Akio Fukamachi.
WWW kawaki.gaga.ne.jp𝕏 fujishimakanako

Plot

Akikazu Fujishima is a former detective who lost his job, marriage and daughter after having a violent reaction to his wife's infidelity. Since then, he has become a dysfunctional, unstable alcoholic. Many years later, his ex-wife Kiriko contacts him to tell him that his daughter Kanako has gone missing. Akikazu begins investigating the disappearance, with police detective Asai ostensibly helping but in truth rarely involving himself in the search. Akikazu's methods involve harassing and intimidating those he speaks to, including Kanako's former classmates and teacher, but none of them are forthcoming. Nonetheless, he discovers that she had become involved with drug users, and suspects that they made her into an addict.
Flashbacks to three years prior reveal how Sigon in Kanako's middle school had fallen in love with her, as she was the only kid who didn't bully or ostracize him. Sigon, knowing Kanako had been in love with a former student named Ogata, wanted her to feel the same way for him. This desire eventually leads him to attend a party with her, where he is drugged and raped. Sigon then tracks down Kanako and contemplates killing her, but is unable to. She embraces him, before an unidentified figure stabs Sigon in the neck, killing him.
In the present, Akikazu is eventually captured by the Yakuza, who torture and kill Kanako's gang member friend Matsunaga in front of him. Matsunaga informs Akikazu as to how Ogata was a "weak boy with a cute face" so they kidnapped him and allowed old men to rape him, which caused him to commit suicide. Kanako, having been in love with Ogata, befriended the group in order to exact revenge. Even knowing about Kanako's intentions and lack of feelings for anyone or anything, Matsunaga had fallen in love with Kanako and helped her to steal the photos. The Yakuza inform Akikazu that the police are also involved in the prostitution ring and that Detective Aikawa had killed several of Kanako's criminal friends in an attempt at a cover-up. They provide Akikazu with a gun and send him to Aikawa's home.
Akikazu rapes Aikawa's wife, then takes her and her son hostage to meet Aikawa. The two have a bloody fight, during which Aikawa kills his wife, but both men survive. The police, including Detective Asai, arrive on the scene, and kill Aikawa. Akikazu hits Asai with his car and escapes.
Akikazu returns to the teacher that he questioned much earlier, having realized that her daughter was one of the children being raped in Kanako's photos, and that she had killed Kanako in revenge. He forces her to dig up the grave that she buried Kanako in, but its location has been lost due to recent snowfall. While the teacher insists that his search for his daughter's body is futile and tries to escape, Akikazu continues to dig, refusing to acknowledge that his daughter is dead. The film ends as he vows to kill her himself.

Cast

Music

Reception

Box office

The film earned $1.1 million during its opening weekend, and debuted at No. 4 at the Japanese box office. It has grossed ¥377 million in Japan.

Critical response

The World of Kanako received mixed responses from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 18 critics' reviews are positive. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
Mark Schilling of The Japan Times gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing that "as a thriller, Kawaki is almost comically over the top. Nakashima produces quick, kaleidoscopic cuts that not only impress with their coolness, but say something about the quicksilver nature of Kanako in particular and the Dionysian spirit in general". Andy Webster of The New York Times disliked the film, calling it "remorseless, repetitious and ultimately tedious", as did Varietys Scott Tobias, who wrote the film was "a relentlessly unpleasant and ultimately banal journey into a broken family’s heart of darkness. The World of Kanako doesn’t pause long enough from visceral ugliness to allow any deeper emotions to sink in".