Taking the Chilean coup as an example, a group of young officers plan to overthrow the Japanese government on V-J Day. They aim to abolish the post-war constitution, restore the national army and revive the traditional spirit of Japan. As the conspiracy is exposed, the coup squadrons are wiped out one by one. The remaining squadron takes over a night train bound for Tokyo.
Direction
Yamamoto's suffocating train compartments as pressure cooker
Acting
Watase's unraveling idealism versus Mikuni's weary pragmatism
Production
1978 sleeper train recreated with obsessive period detail
Director
Satsuo Yamamoto
Tsunehiko Watase
Akimasa Fujisaki
Sayuri Yoshinaga
Kyoko Fujisaki
Etsushi Takahashi
Yasuhisa Toshikura
Kei Yamamoto
Hiroaki Ishimori
Rentaro Mikuni
Tameichiro Emi
Tsutomu Yamazaki
Tadashi Tojo
Kensaku Morita
Koichi Ariga
Toshiyuki Nagashima
Sergeant Yajima
Morio Kazama
Shinichirō Mikami
Captain Komori
Isao Hashimoto
Sergeant Shima
Shigeru Kōyama
Shingo Shogaki
Mizuho Suzuki
Army General Mano
Eiji Okada
Assistant General Tokunaga
Hideji Ōtaki
Noguchi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film adapts Ryuzan Aku's novel inspired by actual 1970 JSDF officer conspiracies, making its 'what if' uncomfortably close to historical reality.
Yamamoto, a former leftist filmmaker, deliberately cast sympathetic actors to make audiences confront their own attraction to revolutionary violence before the third act brutally punishes them for it.
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