A retiring detective hunts a missing retiree — both running out of time in this slow-burn mystery.
An employee of a bank goes missing following his retirement from the bank. Veteran detective Yobuno (Koji Yakusho), who is set to retire himself, is charged with the investigating the missing person case. Det. Yobuno quickly finds more mysterious as he delves into the case, but a woman named Keiko Fukumura (Eri Fukatsu) surfaces who may hold the key to case.
Acting
Yakusho's weary eyes carry entire decades of disappointment.
Direction
Sugita lets silence fester until it screams.
Cinematography
Muted grays that make retirement look like purgatory.
Director
Shigemichi Sugita
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Japan's 2009 economic crisis made 'retirement disappearance' a documented phenomenon — salarymen literally vanishing rather than face shame.
Eri Fukatsu won Japan's Academy Award for this role; her Keiko is all surface politeness hiding abyssal calculation.
JP
