SummaryAs broken ex-detective Akikazu (Kôji Yakusho) searches for his missing teenage daughter, Kanako (Nana Komatsu), he discover that she may not be the person who he once thought she was following a shocking trail of drugs, sex and violence. [Drafthouse Films]
Directed By:Tetsuya Nakashima
Written By:Akio Fukamachi, Tetsuya Nakashima, Miako Tadano, Nobuhiro Monma
The World of Kanako
Metascore
Mixed or Average
55
User score
Mixed or Average
5.7
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
60% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Dec 2, 2015
78
This time out, Nakashima plays it fast, loose, and seriously fucked-up with a father-daughter tale of Tokyo woe that makes Paul Schrader’s "Hardcore" look like a picnic.
Dec 1, 2015
70
Yakusho's breathless, riveting performance grounds The World of Kanako even as it threatens to devolve into an unbearable series of nihilistic plot twists and gory set pieces.
User score
Mixed or Average
40% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
47% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
13% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Dec 20, 2015
9
The World of Kanako is a film that is difficult to watch yet impossible to forget, and if Quentin Tarantino and Chan-wook Park had a lovechild, this would be it. Nakashima’s stylish visuals, fearless gear-changes, terrific soundtrack choices, and deft timeline manipulation are reminiscent of QT’s work. At the same time, the Japanese director’s bleak worldview, dark themes, irredeemable characters, and perpetual pall of hopelessness he hangs over the story and its players is in a league with Park’s best work. Finally, Nakashima employs a Venn Diagram-like overlap of the most notable element of the American and South Korean masters’ works: violence. It’s violence that is as relentless as it is discomforting, and as exhausting as it is shocking, and yet it’s something that cannot be ignored.
Apr 17, 2019
8
With an interesting and engaging story, interesting characters, well made action sequences, beautiful cinematography and a great soundtrack, The World of Kanako will leave you crushed by how beautiful yet so grim it is.
Dec 4, 2015
63
It’s a film that’s tempting to dismiss because of its bleak, misanthropic viewpoint on the world, but that would be discounting the quality of the filmmaking and the riveting performance at its center.
Dec 3, 2015
40
While there’s something compelling about an antihero whose obsession is poised on the razor’s edge between love and hate, The World of Kanako buries it in grinding, agitated repetition.
Dec 3, 2015
40
Mr. Nakashima, it must be said, does have a knack for composition. But the torrential, if glossy, violence — he adores juxtaposing innocuous pop ditties with gruesome set pieces — grows tiresome.
Jun 12, 2022
7
This is a completely wild, over the top flick. It is made up mostly of 3-4 second long, tight shots. Shooting and editing this must have been really something. There are loads of blood, gore, ****, torture, madness, betrayal - good heavens. And yet it is entertaining, because you can't take any of it very seriously.
Aug 1, 2016
2
Can a movie be extremely violent and extremely tiresome at the same time? Yes, it can, "The World of Kanako" maybe is the best prove. Except buckets of artificial blood, I found there nothing. Seriously, I'm not a goody-goody and can fully enjoy the violence on the screen, Takeshi Kitano is one of my favorite filmmakers by the way! I enjoy the violence in movies... but there must be something besides it - whatever it may be - a plot, a humor, relations, clashes of characters, art, drama, events, nature, imagination, intrigue, contemplation, beauty, feelings, suspense and so on. Yet here... there is nothing but an endless yelling, beating, killing, stabbing, crashing, crushing, slapping, wounding, bullying, humiliating, mutilating, beating again, smashing, torturing, shooting, kicking, cutting and so forth... And all this without even a single interesting dialogue! It's not even dramatic because there is no character we can feel the smallest compassion for. The story line always skips to and fro in time, the film editing is disgusting, most scenes are poorly staged and poorly shot, just something is flickering in the half-dark, something violent, of course, what else!... Seriously, there are a lot of better movies worth to spend your time on! Or just watch crime news reports, in case you are SO BENT ON BLOOD AND VIOLENCE!
Production Company:
- Gaga
- Gyao
- Licri
- Tsutaya
Release Date:Dec 4, 2015
Duration:1 h 58 m
Tagline:Shock Therapy Entertainment.
Awards
Austin Fantastic Fest
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Awards of the Japanese Academy
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
