Kin'yû hametsu Nippon: Tôgenkyô no hito-bito (2002)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Yuuji Aoki (novel)
Masakuni Takahashi (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 February 2005 (Hungary)

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Sho Aikawa	...	Village headman (as Shô Aikawa)
Shirô Sano	...	Kuwata
Yu Tokui	...	Seisuke Umemoto (as Yuu Tokui)
Midoriko Kimura	...	Fusae
Kogan Ashiya	...	Uehara
Akaji Maro	...	Ookura Nagashima
Takashi Ebata	...	Matsui
Yojin Hino	...	Takeda (as Yôjin Hino)
Toshiki Ayata	...	Etô
Houka Kinoshita	...	Umekawa (as Hôka Kinoshita)
Shigeru Muroi	...	Mari
Yuuji Aoki	...	Attorney
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tsutomu Itô
Miyako Kawahara
Masumi Kiyota
Kazuhiro Kuwata
Shou Ohkura	...	Worker
Shintarô Takado
Yuuji Tatsumi

Also Known As:

Shangri-La (International: English title)
Tôgenkyô (Japan) (short title)
Tôgenkyô no hito-bito (Japan) (working title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Daiei Motion Picture Company

Miike delightfully surprises

The work of Takashi Miike is usually marked by bizarre characters in even more bizarre situations. By turns audacious, scary and violent, Miike has became a director reknowned for his ability to shock. Perhaps his biggest shock has arrived yet with his new film "Shangri-La" - shocking only because it's the complete opposite Miike's work has became known for. Instead we are treated to a delightful, light, and outright heartwarming comedy that is thoroughly enjoyable. It hardly breaks new ground and it's nothing we haven't seen before, but it's done with such sincerity and executed so well, so can't help but admire it.

"Shangri-La" follows the lives of a group of homeless people in Japan who run into a man who nearly commits suicide and decide to help him out of his financial troubles. Using their various ingenious resources they embark on a complex scheme to blackmail a crooked businessman, whose bankruptcy claim has put people out of work. It's a fun romp as these seemingly homeless people manage to outsmart the very people who cast them from society. Miike knows enough not to over explain his characters or to drop the plot in emotional syrup and knows to keep things tight and moving along briskly to its inevitable conclusion.

"Shangri-La" is a welcome addition to Miike's filmography but hardly indicative of his work. First timers should start with "Fudoh" or "Visitor Q", but those looking for something completely familiar need look no further.