Because the thirst for Japanese cult movies is strong out there, the faithful will turn out for “The World of Kanako.” All others might want to keep their hands clean.
This wild and bloody film is frantic from the start. Very quickly we’re skipping between (at least) four different timeframes, all having to do with an enigmatic teenage girl, Kanako (Nana Komatsu).
Something terrible has already caused the downfall of Kanako’s estranged father, a former police detective named Fujishima (Koji Yakusho). A wreck of his former self, he’s notified by his ex-wife that Kanako has been missing for some days.
In the course of his shambling, stumbling investigation, we get a series of flashbacks detailing Kanako’s recent past. Fujishima quickly realizes his daughter fell into drugs and ran with the wrong crowd, but there’s even more to it than that.
Some of the flashbacks include the relentless bullying of Kanako’s classmate (Hiroya Shimizu) by the school hooligans. Throughout his humiliation, this kid views pretty Kanako as his salvation — up to a point.
None of this unfolds in an orderly fashion. Director Tetsuya Nakashima (“Kamikaze Girls”) never lets a shot linger on screen for longer than three seconds, and sometime the different timeframes fold in on each other with dizzying suddenness.
That definitely conjures up the acid-trip mood of the story. But it doesn’t allow us to understand what everybody else sees in Kanako, who’s supposed to be a mesmerizing figure. In its crazy rush, the movie never pauses to let us witness that.
The battering-ram violence is relentless, even for this genre. One thing almost justifies the over-the-top approach: Koji Yakusho’s performance as the shattered ex-cop.
This guy is a mess. Sweaty, shaky, with long hair seemingly doused in motor oil, and wearing an indestructible white linen suit that gets more blood-spattered as the movie goes on, Fujishima is no better than the other monsters on view.
The star of the samurai movie “13 Assassins” and the classic Japanese horror flicks “Pulse” and “Cure,” Yakusho has weary authority and believable resilience in the role. The detective is not a good man, but Yakusho makes you want to watch him — however far he falls.
“The World of Kanako” 2 stars
A demolished ex-cop (the charismatic Koji Yakusho) tries to find his missing teenage daughter, who’s clearly fallen in with the wrong crowd. This frantic, fractured movie is unpleasant in a variety of ways, and is probably for fans of Japanese cult movies only. In Japanese, with subtitles.
Rating: Not rated, probably R for violence, subject matter
Showing: Grand Illusion theater
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