The Wolrd of Kanako is a violently disturbing picture with lots of hysterically abnormal characters that never fail to amaze. Nakashima Tatsuya is a genius Japanese director. His “Confessions” and “Memories of Matsuko” are living evidences of his brilliance. The downside is that he doesn’t come out much but when he does, it will be through a thought-provoking wild picture like The World of Kanako. Being a serious fan of Nakashima filmmaking, I was eagerly anticipating this. But I wasn’t ready for this darker tone and pitch black atmosphere. Needless to say, I was pleased in a very good way. The picture was a clear depiction of an ill society with lots of vacancy within. The storyline was based on several flashbacks to draw Kanako’s life. The multitude of switching between the past and the present was an intelligent procedure to keep the suspense until the end. Of course, the overuse might turn out confusing especially by the end but it was a definite win for the film’s two hours’ longitude. The plot’s successively coherent events helped expressing the characters’ nightmarish adventures. But it was the excessive violence that pinpointed the severity of what actually happened. Of course brutal beatings and cuttings can come out extremely discomforting but it’s their gruesome nature that grabs the memory and highlights the nasty reality Nakashima was trying to illustrate: Nothing is what it seems. There’s always a hidden reality underneath. Beside Nakashima’s explosive style in picturing a chaos in stunning colours, there were his brilliant main leads. They’re what strengthened my wish to see this picture in the first place; the veteran Yakusho Koji (he was on a whole different level), the brilliant Tsumabuki Satoshi, the charismatic Odagiri Joe, the much imposing Nakatani and even the impressive younger talents Hashimoto, Komatsu and especially Shimizu. The film’s loaded cast helped bringing few of the craziest characters ever. There’s zero hero in this film. All of its characters are some sort of anti-heroes, psychos, sadists, violent pricks and even demons. It was the intense characterisation that made me glued to the screen the whole time. They make one hell of an entertaining bunch. They were perfectly entwined in a messy havoc. They even get crazier as the film goes on and on unravelling their traits one by one. Some characters didn’t get proper explanations as they popped on the screen but it all went well for the final blow. Maybe Nakashima went abroad with the repeated violence, brutality, rape, drug use and all the ugly side of REALITY but it was especially genius how he has wrapped his characters in a surrealist cover of apparent fantasy. It does take a big director to convince his audience about the line between reality and fiction without getting caught in his own scenario. Hats off to you oji-san! The World of Kanako is a fascinating take about the ugliness in society (more particularly Japanese). It’s an intriguing view about people’s masks and their crazy reactions when someone pushes the wrong button. It’s basically a gripping watch centring on wild characters being pushed to the edge.