Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2013

The uber-hip director Kei Nakata is back with another stylish thriller. His 2009 effort Cool Girls was a political potboiler which garnered good reviews and established Nakata on the auteur scene here.

This effort, supposedly “based on a true story” (more like “taking inspiration from a vaguely related incident”), is equally chic and well shot, but poppish enough to keep the masses involved.

Etched in evocative black and white tones, the piece pulls off the coup of having both an otherworldly, ethereal air and a provocative realism. Set in a stark Shibuya after a major earthquake, we are introduced to Natsu (model Airi Tsukamoto in her first film role). The dejected twenty-something finds a gun in a bathroom stall and starts discharging it at random. This brings her to a chinpira thug crowd and their usual endeavors.

Both throwback noir and futuristic cyber-punk this flick subtly draws the viewer in. (72 min)