Shield of Straw - Proteggi l'assassino

A security police and his team convoyed a sex offender for little girls who raped them and killed after that. A reword of a billion yen, about nine millon dollars in US dollars, was set on his head. There were some complexed thoughts. Some people thought they should kill him because he was crazy and they would be able to get huge money. In other side, some members of security police were confused by their own justice. Should they protect him even if he was the worst and such a terrible man? Also he exploited his position and sniggered. I didn't see where justice was.

Inpite of struggling to convoy him, he talked to them like he wanted to piss them off. I liked Tatsuya Fujiwara with the vulgarity.

Shield of Straw probably is Miike's most humane and ''deep''-film. After watching it you will think about it for hours.

Does it place a mirror in front of our politically-correct pseudo-''good mind'' society and say : ''Look how absurd and self-righteous you are!'' Does it show us a true modern hero -Mirari ? One who stayed true to his principles when other were driven by greed and weakness? Does it examine the psychology of ''our money is everything'' mindset? Almost limitless food for thought. And that s what makes a film excellent. Not to mention the good as always story , acting , cinematography , soundtrack , etc. Some say Miike went mainstream with his film- wrong! Sorry for you-better watch Transformers then.

After watching it you will think about it for hours. As always the master filmmaker knows how to grip the viewer and no letting loose. Unique , gripping , provocative...and good. Watching Miike ,known for his bizarre and brutal films, never felt so right. 8/10 Drama Miike-style.

Enjoyed it! Straight forward (for a Miike film). It would be a great double bill with Clint Eastwood's 1977 flick The Gauntlet. It is very close in plot and theme with The Gauntlet, which I've found to be an overlooked title that, although a then contemporary cop drama it could have been a spaghetti western (not surprising considering Eastwood's origins with the spaghetti and it's links to samurai films). Becomes much darker as it becomes more personal than political in comparison to The Gauntlet; however I think that paints an adequate picture of Shield Of Straw. Check it out!

Shield of Straw (2013) (Japanese Thriller)

Viewed on April 26th, 2013 at Shinuku Piccadilly Cinema in Tokyo, Japan. No subtitles.

After a young girl is murdered, the grandfather publicly issues a $10 million bounty on the head of the prime suspect (an already convicted rapist/murderer played by Tatsuya Fujiwara). An idealistic cop (Takao Osawa) is assigned the protect and transport the suspect despite the repeated assassination attempts. This film by Takashi Miike is absorbing and pushes the protagonist's ideals to the limit, especially considering how the suspect is obviously a homicidal maniac whose protection endangers the lives of both police officers and citizens. As the bodycount of innocent deaths rise, it becomes more and more difficult to justify the suspects' protection. There are a few good action moments to enjoy, but the tension is expressed more so in the threat than the actual violence itself.

One thing I would like to point out is with regard to the performances by both lead actors, which are very strong. This is a bit surprising given their histories. I would not personally classify Tatsuya Fujiwara as a "great" actor, and he does not belong in the same ranks as other Japanese stars like Hiroshi Abe and Koji Yakusho. That said, he has definitely grown on me over the past few years with his performances in "Parade" (2009) and now this film. I see him building a respectable career into the future. Then there's Takao Osawa, a man who has had his fair share of cartoonish and/or stiff performances. But here he turns in the best performance of his career, and actually carries the film on his shoulders from start to finish. Ironically, I also recently saw him give a good performance in "Strawberry Night" (2012), so he is also growing on me.

Miike's direction is impressive as always. He represents a great example of a once cult director who has retained his filmmaking qualities despite turning to mainstream projects. In fact, I'd say that his "hit or miss" career has actually grown more consistent in recent years. Fans should see "Shield of Straw" as soon as possible.

P.S. - This film was apparently panned at the Cannes Film Festival, which is not much of a surprise since it's probably the most "commercial" film in competition.

Director Takashi Miike is renown for developing films that thrust the characters into life threatening situations, whilst dealing with issues concerning basic human tendencies, often accentuated to graphic levels, guaranteed to provoke conversations between some people, and sheer unnerving suspense amongst others. Shield of Straw is no different, asking its audience questions regarding the differences between vengeance and justice, while positioning viewers to contemplate how far they would go to protect a monstrously psychopathic individual, depicting society in general as a collection of individuals, who, upon the promise of economical gratification, are willing to inexplicably forgo moral conventions.

These questions and ideas are forced upon the viewer by character Takaoki Ninagawa (Tsutomu Yamazaki), one of the richest, and at the same time, oldest, men in the country. The murder of his seven year old granddaughter at the hands of Kunihide Kiyomaru (Tatsuya Fukiwara), who had only recently been released from prison for a previous crime at the time of the incident, causes him to take matters into his own hands three months later, after police appear unable to apprehend Kiyomaru, who is currently on the run. The promise of one billion yen to whomever kills Kiyomaru causes a triumphant chain reaction, that leads the murderer to surrender himself over to police custody, upon realization he is unable to protect himself.

Kazuki Mekari (Takao Osawa), a member of the security police, who we discover early into the movie is still coming to terms with the loss of his wife, a back-story that is conveyed during the film, is hired by section-chief Ooki (Hiroatro Honda) to escort Kiyomaru to Tokyo police, where he will be released into the custody of the prosecution. Those also brought on to assist in escorting the criminal include fellow security police member and single mother Atsuko Shiraiwa (Nanako Matsushima), Takeshi Okumura (Goro Kishitani), Kenji Sekiya (Masato Ibu) and Masataka Kanbashi (Kento Nagayama). Early into the film, the threat posed by the police force themselves is powerfully executed, those providing protection to the murderer continuously suspecting one another of betrayal, and despite money initially been the cause for such worry, later, themes including honor, personal values, vengeance, and doing what is morally right, begin to plague those involved.

Although the film presents viewers with the quandary, who are we to trust if the police themselves are criminal, Kiyomaru is far from a sympathetic character, his behavior, and complete lack of empathy, making him a narcissistic villain that causes even the audience to wonder whether protecting such a vile criminal is worth it. At the same time, Ninagawa is equally complicit as a villain, his actions causing a significant number of casualties that he himself appears unaffected by. On a side note, though the formalities of Japanese culture are well imbedded into the feature, this viewer was occasionally left wondering if characters with blackened hearts truly deserved the respect they were given, a question additional viewers may ponder.

Moving on, the movie begins with such intensity, which is especially due to the visual flare, including a massive assortment of police vehicles escorting the prisoner, alongside another scene involving a truck, barreling at high speeds towards the lead characters, a mixture of gun fights and an explosion that can only be described as outstanding, grabbing hold of the viewer's attention. The idea of having 125 million possible suspects out to assassinate the antagonist makes for a thrillingly anxious climate, whereby the threat could appear from anywhere, this notion being continuously attended to over the feature's duration. Where the introduction seemed to have an over-reliance on filling the screen with vivid entertainment, as the film progresses, more isolated environments begin to suspend the viewer in a very different atmosphere, the intensity of dialogue between characters as themes concerning greed, corruption and death begin to swell to almost cataclysmic levels mean the actors, rather than the affects, attend to the atmosphere.

Environments, from sprawling metropolis, outer city developments, to countryside roads, make for a variety of locations, the soundtrack adding to this, immersing the audience in either the excitement, or the gripping character drama, though at the same time, the scenes where only the diegetic ambiance can be felt, are equally intense. On other occasions, the soundtrack appears to become too impacting, the orchestral themes gradually becoming louder, signifying a thunderous event, that never actually occurs.

Although originally excitingly fast, the slower pace towards the end is potentially less effective, despite the tension remaining satisfactorily convincing, however, the initially surprising atmosphere, where threats could come from anywhere, begins to instead be replaced with a slight degree of predictability, as the number of threats begin to increasingly narrow. The ending will no doubt cause audiences to question if justice really is dealt, and though the film efficaciously grapples with viewer's emotions, it is uncertain if sadness or anger was the intended feeling Mr Miike wanted to garner.