The New York Times by Andy Webster
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.
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 2014
1h 58m
Director Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring Koji Yakusho, Nana Komatsu, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Hiroya Shimizu
Genre Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
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Akikazu is a former detective. One day, his daughter Kanako, who is a model student, disappears. To find his daughter, he investigates more carefully into his daughter's life. When Akikazu is led to one crucial clue, he realizes the world Kanako was facing is beyond his imagination...
The New York Times by Andy Webster
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.
RogerEbert.com by Brian Tallerico
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.
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
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.
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.
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.