It’s a murder mystery which is described through the eyes of a tabloid TV journalist, who’s keen for a big exclusive story. As such, all of the clues and eye-witness accounts point to one suspect: one who just so happens to have disappeared on the same evening as the murder.
The film reminded me a lot of Rashomon, with its multiple telling of the same story, and it was fascinating to see the events shift from one perspective to the next. Inoue Mao was superb in her role, probably the best I’ve seen her in any film. There’s a real difference in her performance when she’s in a flashback (as described by someone else) and when she’s being the actual character herself. I loved that kind of subtlety to her role. Ayano Gou, too, was great as the manipulative reporter.
By telling the story through news reports and twitter feeds, it really shows how a story can grow and how the opinions of people who have nothing to do with the case are able to be spread and repeated.
It also reminded me of the Joanna Yates murder case in 2010, where the media latched onto the idea that the landlord was the murderer and strongly put forward their theories until the real killer (a neighbour) was arrested.
A lot to think about, and a clever story in its own right. With half an hour to go, I still wasn’t sure how the film was going to end. The overlap of social media and the need for news reporters to get the facts first (whether the facts are true or not) is a timely subject, given the recent hoax of the “countdown” to release photos of Emily Watson.
A great film, in a surprising number of interesting ways.
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