The story begins as Suzuki (Eita) and Masuda (Toma Ikuta), two homeless young men who have just started working as apprentices at a small suburban factory, meet for the first time. Suzuki, who committed his crimes at the age of 14, has changed his name after being released from detention and lives under a new identity. Masuda, surprised by his dorm neighbor\u2019s terrifying growns, asks Suzuki if he\u2019s OK. Suzuki replies with a question: \u201cWhat it is that pains you?\u201d Masuda, whose dreams of becoming a journalist have been dashed, is also having nightmares.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Around that time, another child murder occurs in Saitama and rumors suggest that the killer could be the same as 17 years ago in Kobe. Meanwhile, Suzuki is approached by Miyoko (Kaho), a girl he helped escape from her ex-boyfriend (Shugo Oshinari), who had forced her into porn and was obstinately following her around. Also featuring appearances by taxi driver Yamauchi (Koichi Sato) and Shiraishi (Yasuko Tomita), Suzuki\u2019s counselor at the rehabilitation facility he was committed to \u2013 both of whom have their own issues \u2013 MY FRIEND “A”<\/em> and its dramatic turns see Zeze at his best, directing the ensemble cast with force and conjuring up intoxicatingly tense long takes. The characters\u2019 feelings are woven together in a rich and dynamic manner, subtly conveying the director\u2019s passion for his theme.<\/p>\n \u00a9\u85ac\u4e38 \u5cb3\uff0f\u96c6\u82f1\u793e\u3000\u00a92018\u6620\u753b\u300c\u53cb\u7f6a\u300d\u88fd\u4f5c\u59d4\u54e1\u4f1a<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The sparks flying between Eita and Ikuta are worth highlighting. The former plays his role of lonely ex-murderer as if in the zone, completely synchronizing himself with Suzuki\u2019s incomprehensible inner world, while the latter captures Masuda tiptoeing the line between journalistic ambition and honest desire to protect Suzuki as a friend, approaching this complexity with avarice. The chemistry between the two actors \u2013 described by Zeze as \u201ccomplete opposites, in a way\u201d \u2013 is exceptionally beautiful.<\/p>\n Providing a memorable contrast to the duo\u2019s intense on-screen clashes is Yoshihiro Hanno\u2019s ever so unobtrusive music, which accompanies these wandering souls on their journey. Zeze has poured his entire creative energy into this piece of fiction, calling it a picture of the kind of world he \u201chopes to see\u201d as the Heisei era comes to a close. It involves its audience on a personal level, asking: \u201cIf put in a similar situation, could you still be friends?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Translated by Andreas Stuhlmann<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The chemistry between Eita and Ikuta will keep your tears flowing Despite a running time of 4 hours and 38 min […]","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[93],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1277,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions\/1277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/realtokyo.co.jp\/_sys2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/m0000000934_sub1-580x400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n