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Konkurito
Concrete
Japan 2004
produced by Nobutsugu Tsubomi, Yasuyuki Oda (executive) for Amumo K.K., Benten Entertainment
directed by Hiromu Nakamura
starring Sosuke Takaoka, Miki Komori, Katsuya Kobayashi, Masanori Machida, Kensuke Mano, Mika Mifune, Daizo Miyata, Yoichiro Momose, Toshiya Nagasawa, Akihiro Nakatani, Kazutomo Nakatsukasa, Naomi Oki, Yuu Saito, Sachiko Takayanagi, Yohei Toyoda, Yuujya Toyoshima, Ryoji Tsuge
screenplay by Hiroshi Kanno, based on a book by Joji Atsumi, music by Masatoshi Nishimura
review by Mike Haberfelner
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It would be a gross exaggeration to say teenaged Tatsuo's (Sosuke
Takaoka) a made man, but he's not doing too bad either: He's got a high
school education, a job and a girlfriend he plans to marry once he has
saved up enough money. Then a friend introduces him to the Yakuza, and
before you know it, Tatsuo has turned into a small fry crook, simply
because he's too weak to resist the lure of money - granted, he loses all
the extra cash gambling, but that's beside the point. When his girlfriend
finds out about Tatsuo's new lifestyle, she persuades him to quit, but
that doesn't work out as planned, and instead of leaving the Yakuza behind
for good, he ends up being the head of his own Yakuza subchapter, his gang
made up from 3 guys he just happens to know. The achievements of Tatsuo's
own gang however are definitely less than honorable, mainly handbag theft
and collecting protection money from schoolgirls. Eventually, Tatsuo rapes
a schoolgirl, and is surprised how easy it is to escape charges ... so he
and his gang kidnap young Misaki (Miki Komori), brutally rape and torture
her for several days, then beat her to death. It's only when they try to
hide the body (in a tin drum filled with concrete) that their naivity and
lack of hindsight becomes evident, and ultimately, they are all arrested,
tried and punished for their crime ... (Partially) based on
actual facts, this is a film that's supposed to make a point by shocking
its audience. It's supposed to, but it doesn't really and totally succeed:
Sure, the onscreen goings-on are shocking enough, there are no two ways
about that, but the underlying plot is just too conventional to really
raise more than an eyebrow, and the characters are too clichéed to really
maintain the audience's interest - all of which turns what was supposed to
be a statement into just another genre movie, no better (or worse) than
many similar flicks.
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