The Devil's Path (2013)
Death-row inmate Sudo sends a letter to magazine reporter Fujii. In his letter, he states that a man named Kimura, also known as "teacher," committed numerous murders for insurance money. While checking out the story, based on Sudo's tip, Fuji becomes convinced that the letter is correct. But, a lot of time has passed from the incidents and Sudo's testimony isn't clear. Due to the persistance of Sudo, who is a former yakuza, and Fuji, the police begin to move.
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So much average
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
The Devil's Path is a sadly overlooked Japanese crime story. It blends several film-making techniques to present a story of crime and (to use an over-used term) redemption.Apparently loosely based on a true story, filmed at times in as a noir crime story, other times not, it presents the details of a series of grisly Yakuza murders and a newspaper reporter desperately attempting to get the story out and bring the real ring-leader to justice. It lays out the competing and sometimes opposing and antagonistic forces the reporter faces while getting the story out - the reporter versus his spouse, the spouse versus her mother-in-law, the reporter versus the newspaper editor, the inner gang rivalries, and finally the reporter and the perpetrator of the crime. These competing relationships are presented in both a narrative and nonlinear fashion to produce a movie you really have to pay attention to and watch a few times to be hit with its full effect. At times it works as a psychological thriller, other times as a garden variety Yakuza movie. It features a character who is truly one of the most chilling psychopaths captured on film, someone who can give Hannibal Lector a run for his money.Well worth watching and not to be missed.