Corruption runs in the family when a journalist's own dad is the enemy.
Magazine journalist Renji Himura is suspicious of the corrupt nature of Japanese politics and has uncovered a number of parliamentary scandals in his quest to clean up the political scene. His feud with his father, Tetsuya Himura, a member of the House of Representatives of the ruling Republican Party of Japan, reinforces Renji's aversion to political power struggles. Tetsuya is a member of the party's largest faction, the Teikankai, along with his ally Yuichi Tanigawa, who was elected in the same year, but becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the methods of faction chairman and former Prime Minister Shiro Oda. In order to regain the prime minister's office, Oda has brought in Kojiro Suzuki, the current prime minister, and is building a puppet government. Then, Renji receives a tip-off from a mysterious person.
Acting
Motomiya's simmering rage against father figures.
Direction
Tsuji makes bureaucracy feel genuinely tense.
Writing
Teikankai faction politics surprisingly accessible.
Director
Hiroyuki Tsuji
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Yasukaze Motomiya was primarily known for yakuza films before this rare journalist role. Director Tsuji specifically wanted that simmering violence redirected.
The fictional Teikankai mirrors real LDP factions like Seiwakai; the film dropped right when Shinzo Abe's factional dominance was peaking. Timing was... noted.
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