Director: Takashi MiikeCast: Hiroshi Mikami, Mayu Tsuruta, Shirô Sano, Kumi Nakamura, Masatô Ibu, Renji Ishibashi
Running Time: 107min
Perhaps no-one in modern Japanese cinema divides popular opinion as much as Takashi Miike. For every group of fans who see him as a cinematic genius and lap up everything he releases, there is another group of the same size who look down on his work with contempt, seeing him as nothing more than an overhyped enigma who relies too heavily on shock value to sell his films. Personally, I tend to sway towards the former school of thought. Some of his films, such as Audition and Gozu are personal classics to me, and there are certainly a lot of genre films that I probably would never have seen had it not been for his direction.
One such film is 'Koshonin', a straight-to-television hostage thriller from 2003, based on the novel by Takahisa Igarashi. Experiences of sitting through many over dramatised Hollywood hostage films (John Q I'm looking at you) had tarnished the genre to such a point in my mind that I could happily have gone through the rest of my life without ever seeing another of them. Therefore, when a friend passed me 'The Negotiator' (as it is known in the US) on DVD, I initially approached with it trepidation. After much deliberation, I decided to go ahead and give it a chance, and ended up being glad that I did.
The central basis of the film is what seems like a standard robbery of a convenience store by three masked men. This crime is then followed by three men of the same description taking the employees and patients of a local hospital hostage. In steps the most famous negotiator in Japan, Inspector Ishida, played to perfection by Hiroshi Mikami, to secure a satisfactory end to the situation.
Things are not all as they seem though, as Ishida has a vested interest in the outcome of the negotiations. Feeling that he can't possibly deal with the situation himself, he enlists the help of the initially sceptical Maiko Tohno (Mayu Tsuruta) to assist him. The exact reasons for her scepticism are fully revealed later in the film, but at this point the rumours around the police headquarters are that the two previously had an affair, causing Maiko to be moved from Ishida's department.
The two of them set out to solve the situation, ably assisted by the rest of the hostage team. One particularly keen team member, played by Shiro Sano, remains suspicious of the relationship between the two negotiators throughout. His role is to investigate the potential criminals behind the hostage taking, but he soon begins to question just who the real criminals are. His suspicion acts as a base from which the rest of the story can develop.
Each of the characters has an interesting back story which has taken them to the point they have reached at the time of the situation. Themes of love and vengeance, so prevalent in many of Miike's films, play a pivotal role in these stories, and are the backbone behind which the motives for the crime are unveiled. With the high quality of the actors involved, these scenes are all played out superbly and are not at all over-acted like many Hollywood films of a similar ilk tend to be.
The film is shot in quite a plain style, a necessity due to its straight to television roots, but does manage to include a few artistic shots. One such scene is the meeting of the team, in the mini investigation room that they have setup within the hospital grounds. The majority of the scene is shot from behind one of the pillars coming down from the ceiling, allowing us a slightly obstructed view of the discussions. As certain members of the team haven't been identified to us at this point, it can be difficult to understand who is speaking throughout the scene. This may be a stylistic device that Miike uses to shield their identity until he feels it is necessary for us to know who is who, but the scene can be very frustrating to a subtitle viewer, although we are obviously not his original intended audience.
If not in visual style, there are still a few Miikeisms thrown into the film. Most notable is a surreal conversation between three people involving bunnies, sausages and a penis, which is definitely one of those 'what an earth was that about' moments that so many of Miike's films possess. A smile was also brought to my face by the appearance of Renji Ishibashi, a mainstay of many of Miike's films, who for once has a straight laced role. I was half-expecting him to break into something strange at some point in the film, but thankfully for the credibility of the story he does remain sensible throughout.
Having set itself up as a fairly standard hostage film, Koshonin evolves into something far beyond what it initially seems to be. As it develops, we discover more and more each about each of the main characters' back stories and by the time you reach the conclusion, you are left with an almost insatiable desire to re-watch it to see if it all adds up. The cleverly written script has to take the majority of the credit for this, by transforming the film into something I could never have imagined it being after the opening scenes. Miike doesn't put a foot wrong with the direction, but it really is the story that is the star of the show here.
Buy the US DVD at dvdboxoffice
