Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo Hits Toronto With Miike at Helm
Takashi Miike has taken the Bad Lieutenant badge to Tokyo.
His Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo screened in Special Presentations at the Toronto International Film Festival, a showcase strand for high-profile titles, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film runs 1 hour 48 minutes and is rated R, which requires under-17s to be with an adult in the United States.
Shun Oguri stars as detective Yabuki, a Tokyo officer with erratic behaviour and divided loyalties. Lily James plays Gwen Birgssen, an American FBI agent sent to Japan on a joint case. Liv Morgan plays Megan, the missing daughter of a prominent US congressman whose disappearance drives the search.
The script is by Daisuke Tengan. The production is the third entry in the corrupt-cop franchise that began in the early 1990s, and is billed as the first in a planned series of international sequels. US distribution is with Neon, which picked up the title ahead of the festival season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The search turns messy. Yabuki and Birgssen work the Tokyo underworld together. Old debts close in.
Early notices arrived during the festival. Variety called the film a hardboiled but head-scratching spiritual follow-up to much better movies, and referred to it as Miike's remake. The Guardian described it as a confounding and frustrating mess. The Hollywood Reporter called it a sluggish neo-noir oddly lacking in tension, and the weakest of the three Bad Lieutenant films.
Deadline noted the film is violent but restrained on gore, and described its star as expressive and hangdog.
For fans, this means a new city and a new pairing. The set-up keeps the franchise pattern of a compromised officer on a criminal case. The international plan points to further cities if this outing finds its audience.
