Nihon de Ichiban Warui Yatsura is a fascinating crime drama based on a true story.

 

I have always had mixed feelings on movies and dramas based on true events. Whilst I love the fact that it's much easier to get invested in the stories because it's much more real as some of the stuff actually occurred in real life, there's still some issues with it. There's always some varied degree of artistic license used as liberties are taken with the true story in order for the movie or drama to be compelling and entertaining to the audience. The subject of today's blog post is one such case. Based on the allegedly non fiction novel, Hajisarashi Hotsukaidoukei Akutoku Keiji no Kokuhaku by Yoshiaki Inaba, today's subject is the 2016 movie, Nihon de Ichiban Warui Yatsura! 

To give some backstory for the movie, Yoshiaki Inaba was a Hokkaido cop, who was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 9 years for drug use and possession with intent to supply. Having amassed an impressive career record, Inaba revealed during his trial that his accomplishments were due to his collusion with nefarious figures involved with the criminal underworld. He also claimed to have sold drugs in order to purchase illegal firearms to turn into his police department, and even more alarming, claimed to have done so with the approval of higher ups. 

Nihon de Ichiban Warui Yatsura follows Inaba's story, albeit with all of the people involved having their names changed. Inaba is represented by the character of Moroboshi and the movies follows his journey from newbie police officer to corrupt drug user and dealer. We see 26 years in Morobashi's life up until his arrest. 

When I first heard about the movie, I was concerned about the possibility that it would attempt to portray Inaba or Moroboshi in a more positive, heroic light than he deserved. Luckily, this was not the case. Moroboshi isn't the most likable of characters and it's hard to empathise with someone with his brash personality. This is especially true when we see what happens between him and his long time girlfriend, Yuki. His actions and behaviour are not heroic in nature. He becomes so corrupt and desperate that he morphs into a terrible being. 

Kazuya Shiraishi is a competent director and his direction is fantastic. He truly got the most out of the actors in this movie, especially Go Ayano, Shido Nakamura and Haruna Yabuki. Every shot is well framed and kudos has to go to Takahiro Imai for his solid cinematography. There's a good variety of shots used in the movie from closeups to tracking shots and even some gorgeous wide shots. 

The fast pace of the narrative and the focused editing also helps the movie greatly. It helps keep the narrative moving without being bogged down and keeps the audience invested. 

I also have to commend those in charge of the wardrobe for the movie. The costumes are tremendous and help keep the various different decades seemingly authentic. Some great suits are used for the police department as well as for Kuroiwa. 

Go Ayano is absolutely fantastic in the role of Moroboshi. He brings tremendous depth to what is a very difficult role. The varied emotions and subtle body language he uses really elevates the movie. His deeper tone of voice suited the role extremely well and even though his character isn't a hero, he's a joy to watch. You can feel the desperation as he struggles with the drugs as well as his need for illegal guns supplied by his criminal contacts. Also, a fascinating piece of trivia is the fact that Go Ayano apparently gained and lost 10 kg during filming.

Haruna Yabuki is awesome in her role as Yuki Tasato, Moroboshi's long term girlfriend. She brings a sympathetic charm to the character and it's hard to watch her unfortunate character arc due to her being so likable. 

Shido Nakamura looks stylish and is slick in his role as Katsusuke Kuroiwa. It's no surprise as Nakamura is adept at portraying a wide variety of characters and the criminal character suits him. His relationship with Moroboshi is quite intriguing to watch and his arc is quite interesting. Once a criminal, always a criminal eh? 

Young Dais is superb in the role of Taro Yamabe. He is quite sympathetic, especially when compared with Moroboshi and Kuroiwa. He has a subtle charm about him and his arc is amongst the most heart wrenching. 

Overall, I would recommend Nihon de Ichiban Warui Yatsura as it's a well crafted crime drama based on true events. It's worth watching for Go Ayano's performance alone. Although, don't watch it with children around as there's some risque scenes.