Rating: 4.5/5
Criterion Challenge 2022 | 21/52 | Bill Hader’s Top 10
Kingo Gondo is a board member of a company called National Shoes. He meets with his fellow board of directors to discuss the company’s future. Currently, their profits have flat-lined. Some on the board want to produce cheaper shoes that wear out faster and increase profits. Gondo wishes to invest in high-quality, modern shoes — a short-term profit loss for a theoretical long-term gain as the company sustains its reputation.
Little do the other board members know, Gondo has a plan. A phone call comes in from the Osaka Hotel. Everything is in place. He’ll send the deposit of ¥50 million after it’s done. Where did he get that money? He borrowed against everything he owned, including his family’s house. For the rest he owes, he’ll take over the company with a leveraged buyout.
What is this, an episode of Succession?
While all this is happening, Gondo’s wife, Reiko, enters with their son, Jun, and Shinichi, the child of Gondo’s chauffeur. The boys go outside to play cowboys. Gondo tells Jun to shoot to kill. Reiko worries about his focus on success — that it’s taking away from his humanity.
Gondo’s chauffeur comes in looking for Shinichi. Gondo receives a call that they have kidnapped Jun. They are holding him for ransom for ¥30 million. Gondo agrees to get him back, whatever the cost. But then, Jun walks in, unbothered. Gondo dismisses it, but they realize Shinichi is missing. The kidnappers took Shinichi by mistake.
Still, the kidnappers do not relent. If he doesn’t pay, the boy dies. The film follows Gondo as he weighs his choices: pay the ransom to save Shinichi or complete the buyout. One might cost him his wealth and identity. The other might cost him his soul.
Of course, it’s more nuanced than that, which is why the movie works.
I held on to every word of this movie! This script is impeccable! Like 12 Angry Men, we watch the case develop piece by piece.
They built the script around Japan’s then penal code, which stated it’s only extortion if the person threatened is the person or their kin. The kidnapper would, at worst, get five years in prison if caught. Rumor is that this law changed in 1964 in response to this movie.
Toshiro Mifune is perfect for the role of Kingo Gondo. No one plays calloused, with a hint of humanity, like him.
Every time Takashi Shimura shows up in a movie, I get teary-eyed. I love him so much.
The movie, though in monochrome, has moments of color pop — I won’t say more and spoil it, but it’s such a striking choice.
If I had one complaint, it would be the ending — it wraps up but it is unsatisfying.
Still, this movie is incredible, and the hype is real.