Revolution+1

An experimental Japanese drama about Tetsuya Yamagami, the man who murdered former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

It is a rather short (75 min) piece of indie filmmaking by veteran director Masao Adachi. It tries to examine the assassination from the perspective of this enigmatic man, delving into his past before getting to the act itself. Yamagami's hatred towards Abe stems from the minister's endorsement of the controversial Unification Church, which Yamagami's mother blindly supported to the point of neglecting her own family. Yamagami himself was, the film suggests, a lonely soul who felt like he was drifting through life, ultimately needing to pin the blame on something, and Abe was it. Of course, Adachi makes no attempts at openly sympathizing with Yamagami, but the film's more intimate approach humanizes this character so we can at least try to understand his actions.

The guerrilla style filmmaking was obviously done on a low budget, and it was shot in a rather short time (about two weeks, I think), lending the film a rough, almost DIY feel. The casting is adequate, with Soran Tamoto as Yamagami being the only notable character with more than a few minutes' screentime. The film was, overall, just kinda there for me, though. Decent but never quite gripping or otherwise surprising, taking a shorter, slightly different route for a biopic than we normally see. There's a feeling that it could've achieved more with a bigger budget and a more expansive approach, rather than trying to capture the brunt of a man's life in a mere hour's worth.

Long story short, a good film that feels like it could have had a much stronger impact. Nevertheless, I'd suggest indie film fans to give this one a look if they're interested in the subject.