DIRECTED BY Kazuya Shiraishi
STARRING Shingo Katori, Yuri Tsunematsu, Naomi Nishida
COUNTRY Japan
YEAR 2019
GENRE
CATEGORY Film performance
Gambling is prohibited in Japan, save for a few exceptions. It is only allowed to bet on horses, cycling and boat races. Japanese mafia controls this business. Ikuo lives with his partner Ayumi and her teenage daughter, works in a print shop, bets on cycling, and drinks. Following various developments, Ayumi decides to return to her native town with family to take care of her sick father. Everybody is in for a new beginning, and she will encounter her old friends. Gambling addiction is tough, however. Ikuo succumbs to it again and gets involved with the local yakuza. A brutal crime then rips the family hopelessly apart. Ikuo has been going from one extreme to the other. Does a person have to drop all the way to the bottom to rise again? The film shows how men deal with losing their women and how much they can fight to retain their families. The destinies of this film’s characters are also influenced by the devastating tsunami of 2011. The sea brings both life and death, but it makes no sense to hate it because of its force.
