Kaibutsu no Kikori is an engaging Takashi Miike thriller.

 

As I've previously mentioned on this blog, I'm an avid fan of Takashi Miike's work and have been for well over a decade at this point. For the most part, he delivers some entertaining movies and has dabbled in dorama as well, very rarely does he miss the mark in my opinion, but Sukiyaki Western Django does exist, sadly. Of course, that is all subjective and my main critisicm of Sukiyaki Western Django was Takashi Miike's bizarre decision to make the Japanese actor speak English, something I still cannot comprehend. Regardless, that's not what this blog post is about. Instead, this post is focused on one of Takashi Miike's later works, the mystery thriller, Kaibutsu no Kikori, based upon the 2019 novel of the same name by author, Kurai Mayusuke. 

Kaibutsu no Kikori begins with a police raid on the mansion of the Toma couple. As the police investigate the rather lavish home, they discover that the woman had been experimenting on children that the couple had abducted. The woman herself is found listening to one of the surviving children as he read from the book titled Lumberjack The Monster (Kaibutsu no Kikori). Rather than be arrested, the woman slits her own throat in front of the police and the kid. Following this, we are introduced to the main character, Akira Ninomiya, a rather accomplished lawyer who just so happens to also be a psychopath. Ninomiya is friends with a surgeon, Dr Kuro Sugitani, who also is a psychopath and is rather fond of being so. 

After speaking with Sugitani, Ninomiya is suddenly ambushed in the parking lot by an axe-wielding assailant wearing the Lumberjack the Monster mask and outfit. Ninomiya survives the encounter, but takes a knock to the head in the process and whilst in the hospital recuperating, he learns that he has a neuro chip in his brain. Meanwhile, the police are investigating the case of a serial killer known for stealing brains, with profiler Ranko Toshiro desperately trying to find the underlying connections and establish the real motive for the murders. She attempts to link the serial killer to Ninomiya's assailant. Ninomiya on the other hand, vows to get revenge. 

Takashi Miike is a master movie maker and even though some might disagree, I think that his skills are on full display with Kaibutsu no Kikori. Working with a pretty tight, streamlined script written by Hiroyoshi Kowai, he managed to create a rather compelling and entertaining mystery thriller with some elements of horror. There are of course a few plot holes here and there, for example, how on earth did the police let Kenmochi out of their sight when they were stating that they'd put him under watch? There's also the fact that nobody, not even the police recognised that some of the abducted kids were placed into orphanages by the Toma couple of all people despite them being under investigation. Nevertheless, the movie is still a fun watch and I enjoyed it tremendously. Miike does include a bit of his signature blood geysers and a little gore, which was nice. It was also mostly the aftermath of the murders and not the acts themselves. 

Miike's partnership with Nobuyasu Kita paid dividends as the cinematography is top-notch. A wide variety of camera angles, shot types, techniques and colour grading are used to tremendous effect and help bring the movie to life in a delightful manner. This in combination with the fast paced, almost frantic editing done by Naoichiro Sagara helps set the tense tone. My personal favourite shot of the movie is actually done twice. The first time it occurs is in the beginning of the movie and it later is used in the latter stages. It's a moving shot that also serves as an over the shoulder with the camera peering over the shoulder of a character as they open a door and reveal the room beyond. It might sound like a benign shot, but it's done in a rather eery way as the simple act of opening a door becomes as tense as the original door opening sequence found in the original Biohazard/Resident Evil. The atmosphere is very horror-like and creepy in a fun way with the soundtrack also adding that sense of dread and tension. 

It was great being able to see Kazuya Kamenashi flex his acting capabilities by portraying a psychopathic lawyer. Whilst he does appear to be quite polished with the clean cut suit and hairstyle, his usage of subtle body language in combination with various facial expressions really bring the character's psychopathic nature to life. He also has a nice character arc, which ends rather fittingly if tragic. 

Shido Nakamura stole the show with his performance as Takeshi Kenmochi. He seemed to enjoy portraying the role and his scenes were amongst the most potent of the entire movie. I feel like he is often underappreciated as a performer and it's a real shame because he often delivers great performances and is always a welcome addition to any cast.

Shota Sometani made for quite an apt psychopath, looking the part and feeling it too. Of course, Kaibutsu no Kikori was not his first collaboration with Miike, he also was great fun in First Love (Hatsukoi). Nanao was perfectly fine as the police profiler, Ranko Toshiro, she just happened to be upstaged by those around her, including Riho Yoshioka, who did a splendid job in the difficult role of Emi Hasumi. Kiyohiko Shibusawa also put in a solid performance as police detective Nobuo Inui. 

Overall, despite some plot holes and the fact that I managed to guess at who the serial killer was, I thought that the twists worked rather well and that Kaibutsu no Kikori as a whole was a rather entertaining and intriguing mystery thriller. I would recommend it to fans of Takashi Miike's work, those who enjoy a good mystery thriller and those looking to be entertained for about 2 hours.