Villain (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3

The film follows manual labourer Yuichi (Tsumabuki Satoshi), a down trodden young man who lives at home with his grandmother (Kiki Kirin) and who spends most of his time sleeping with women he meets through internet dating. This doesn't seem to make him particularly happy, with his current girl Yoshino (Matsushima Hikari) treating him badly and using him to pass the time while she tries to catch the eye of rich college student Masuo (Okada Masaki). After Yoshino is found dead, the police suspect Masuo, though soon focus their attentions on Yuichi, who goes on the run with his latest internet conquest, forlorn shop worker Mitsuyo (Fukatsu Eri). Meanwhile, his grandmother is left to face the press and ends up in trouble with a group of conmen, and Yoshino's father takes his anger out on Masuo.

The best thing about Villain is its air of grim honesty, which makes it wholly compelling and convincing, and sets it apart from other films about criminals on the run or sad characters self-destructing. Benefitting considerably from having Yoshida Shuichi onboard as a co-writer, the script is powerful and atypical, and whilst the film is relentlessly dark and tough and certainly heaps on the misery, it never feels gratuitous or that it is wallowing in the worst of humanity simply to depress the viewer. Never pulling punches, it tackles a variety of difficult current issues in Japanese society, dealing with loneliness, sex, dating websites and more, all in an even handed manner. Though not explicitly a youth drama, the film certainly has much to say on the subject and paints a pretty disparaging picture of the younger generation in Japan, though again without any easy answers or even finger pointing.

Unsurprisingly, the film doesn't exactly make for cheerful viewing, with callousness and coldness the order of the day, being the most common ways in which the characters interact with each other. At the same time, the script never reduces them to simplistic caricatures, also weaving in sadness, guilt and regret, ensuring that it remains a painfully human story. Although the film is not without melodrama, with there being lots of tears and shots of characters wandering around in the ever-present rain, it's never heavy handed. As a result, the story is really quite devastating, offering glimpses of love and hope, though tempering them with ambiguity, and without ever taking the easy route of transforming into a redemptive journey. By maintaining the courage of its convictions right through to the end, and by keeping its characters flawed, it covers some fascinating and challenging moral ground, leaving it to the viewer to decide which of them is worst and who is truly to blame for the tragic events. Since the film eschews the usual protagonist or even anti-hero figure, and is populated by some pretty monstrous, though recognisable people, it means that the title is fitting and ironic ?how do you judge evil when everyone is bad in one way or another?

Such lofty aims are made possible by a set of uniformly excellent performances from the cast, all of whom really bring their wretched characters to life. Although Tsumabuki Satoshi arguably has the central role, and indeed is utterly convincing as the tormented and brutal Yuichi, it's Fukatsu Eri who impresses the most. Her lonely, initially meek shop girl and her sad hopes for loving him give the film its emotional core, with the actress making the role far more layered than that of the damsel in distress or kind woman trying to mend a broken man it could easily have been.

As well as a fascinating character study, the film works superbly as a thriller, with plenty of twists and turns to keep the viewer guessing, primarily as to whether or not Yuichi really is a cold hearted killer, and whether or not he will turn against the naive Mitsuyo. The plot is a sprawling affair, not just following the runaway couple, but perhaps even more importantly charting how the murder affects everyone involved, in particular families of killer and victim. Interspersed with this are various other subplots, and though these do tend to drop in and out of the film, in particular the thread involving Yuichi's grandmother and the con artists, they help to further flesh out the overall themes. As a result, despite a long running time of around two hours and twenty minutes, the film holds the interest throughout and never feels overstretched.

2010 was a particularly strong year for Japanese film, and Villain is up there with the best of them. A powerful, searching piece of drama that boldly explores the bleaker recesses of the human soul in non-exploitative fashion, though hard going at times, it ultimately makes for rewarding and moving viewing.

by James Mudge - BeyondHollywood.com