Nobody

Rating:
Summary: The Avengers visit Tokyo
Review: Four stars for movie concept, two for DVD presentation. An excellent plot summary is given in the other reviews and I'll weave my comments around their remarks.

If you accept the premise that a barroom tiff over a Rolex and a Zippo can result in an extended hunt-and-be-hunted romp through the land of the rising sun, then you can probably get a kick (no pun intended) out of Shundo Ohkawa's thriller. I must confess that this premise kept me out of this movie's groove for the first half hour, but I settled into things once these western eyes of mine realized that I'm basically watching an Averngers-like plotline, complete with mysterious motives, hunt-and-kill creatively done, and a wink at the audience at the end. I'm not sure of director Shundo Ohkawa's direct influences, but the film is analogous to the Avengers' "Superlative Seven" episode, or the old film classic "The Most Dangerous Game", this time in an urban jungle.

Certain things are missing, mostly in the character department, as we never learn about these guys in any great detail, and there are no charming John Steed or Emma Peel types to round things out. Certainly this is not a film to watch for its human interest elements. On the plus side, the film cleverly avoids the black and white 'good guy, bad guy' situation which might have prevailed in an American film setting. What we have here are six guys who flip flop between hunted and hunter roles, none of whom are completely innocent.

The DVD itself is bare-bones (no trailer, bio or commentary)and the transfer appears to be direct-from-video with occasional minor artifacts that would have been cleaned up in a remastering. I am collecting Asian cinema, so I bought the disk, and I'll keep it. Unless the genre is one that you're hooked on, I'd suggest a rental prior to purchase.

Rating:
Summary: Fine idea, muddled by a lousy script and bad direction.
Review: In this modern Japanese, urban thriller, a minor set of words between two groups of business men leads to one of them getting beat up. They try find the other group to get revenge, but come up empty handed until late one night when they come across one of the rival men in a subway. The three friends beat him severely, so much that they run away, and begin checking the papers to see if they killed him. Soon they begin to get phone calls from the men saying that they have killed the man (though there is no evidence), panic sets in, and slowly they begin to get picked off.

Were these men just crazy business men? Bloodthirsty Yakuza? Crooked Cops? Unfortunately these questions and the I Know What You Did Last Summer-like plotline, dont hold up very well, and are executed in clumsy fashion. The deaths, the suspicion, and the finale, fall too far into b-movie territory. The script, direction, and cinematography, likewise, are poor. Its the kind of movie you watch and end up being entertained by seeing all the flaws and figuring out how the film could have been better.

The DVD is not good. It looks very low budget anyway, but the muddy, scratchy transfer doesnt help.

Rating:
Summary: You're NOBODY 'Til Somebody Loves You--And We Do!
Review: Shundo Ohkawa's NOBODY has its flaws, mainly a finale which explodes over the top and plummets back to earth, but it also has great performances from heartthrob Masaya Kato (DRIVE, CRYING FREEMAN, CRIME BROKER, THE SEVENTH FLOOR, and lots of Japanese films)and tough guy Riki Takeuchi, as well as genuine aura of suspense.

In NOBODY, Ohkawa tells a Hitchcock-like tale of an ordinary guy suddenly plunged in over his head. Set in the regimented world of Japanese business, Ohkawa's story is about a social gaffe which mushrooms into ever escalating violence and terror.

Taki(Masaya Kato)is a junior advertising executive who is always well-groomed and well-spoken; Nanbu (Riki Takeuchi)is a hot-shot and hot-tempered sales rep; Korishi (Hideo Nakano) is a self-effacing accountant. Their friendship is more a product of their coworker status than any deep affinity, and they share drinks rather than confidences. One night, when the three are having afterhour drinks at a bar, they notice three men at an adjoining table. The men, at first glance, are just like them--but further inspection shows something off-kilter. Nanbu makes some comments which are overheard (very bad form in group-conscious Japanese society), and the strangers start a "what are you looking at?" face-off. Taki tries to defuse the situation, and it seems to work in an unspoken effort with the leader of the other group. When Korishi lags behind as the buddies depart, however, the strange trio isolates and savagely attacks him. Several days later, the buddies pass one of the trio in a deserted subway walkway, and with recognition comes retaliation. Nanbu loses all control and beats the stranger viciously, until he is unconscious and possibly dead. The buddies panic and leave. The next day, Taki searches for news reports of a body, but finds none. Are they off the hook? Not once the calls start coming.

Who are those guys? What do they want? Where will it end? How did this happen? These are only some of the questions explored in Ohkawa's taut thriller. For Japanese audiences, the film examined many facets of their lifestyle and social structure. While the cultural subtleties (such as the significance of Taki always wearing his father's expensive designer ties)may not translate to all audiences, the plight of an ordinary (but not innocent) man caught in a maelstrom of circumstances, drowning in terror, is quite compelling in Ohkawa's grand tale of suspense.