BAKA’s Identity

Competitive sectionBusan Award for Best Actor

Remake/AdaptationCrime/ViolencePsychology/Mystery/Suspence/Thriller

BAKA’s Identity is a suspenseful mystery depicting a three-day escape from the perspectives of three individuals. Takuya and Mamoru wander the city, making a living by posing as women on social media to lure lonely men into an illicit identity trade. What began as an easy way to escape the shackles of poverty has pulled them deep into a criminal organization, and they now try to get out with the help of Kajitani, who is like a brother to them. Kitamura Takumi and Ayano Go, who starred in the massive Netflix hit Yu Yu Hakusho, reunite and are joined by newcomer Hayashi Yuta. The film is based on the original novel by Nishio Jun, a recipient of the Oyabu Haruhiko New Writers Award, and was adapted by Japan Academy Prize-winning screenwriter Mukai Kosuke. Directing this ambitious project is Nagata Goto, who previously served as an assistant director for Iwai Shunji. Crime films often lead their protagonists to a tragic ending. Takuya, Mamoru, and Kajitani are keenly aware that their fate is cloaked in uncertainty. Nevertheless, they do not hesitate to take a step forward, treading the boundaries of brilliant light and dark shadows, the ordinary and the extraordinary, good and evil, desire and despair. BAKA’s Identity is a complex human psychological drama, a poignant story of three young men grappling with the weight of adulthood, and a sobering self-portrait of a modern metropolis where violence has deeply penetrated reality. * Based on the novel “Orokamono no mibun” by Nishio Jun

Programme note by Karen PARK