Killing for the Prosecution (2018; 檢察狂人; 検察側の罪人) is not like a film but it should be called as a Japanese TV production which released in theatres.
First of all, it quite failed in cinematic level of artistic solutions. This film actually is a commercial film for prosecutors. We can correctly name that title as "killing for the prosecutors".
Its technical aspects are full of Galapagos phenomenon in typical Japanese filmmaking after 2001.
First, its editing is a mess and sometimes misplaced shots in scene construction. For instance, when Takuya Kimura(木村拓哉)'s Mogami leaves his friend's room at night, the editor first put a tracking shot in which Mogami walking on the corridor while he still in the room and later cut to a wide shot to show his walking out from the gate of the room. A pure mis match.
The typical Galapagos editing of film is common with its Galapagos TV editing phenomenon which is that its editing does not follow exact continuity editing and its imaginarily lines, instead its shot angles are acute and out of axis due to one camera operation.
Its angles surrounding two or more characters in one scene to show disposition and nonexistence of cameras in opposite angles. Its implication is conscious effort in positive mind however its angles do not follow axis in imaginary line.
And too frequent cutting without fitting switch of minds among characters is just a mess. Cutting is not purely able to create an organic rhythm for itself. There is no pure creation in abstractive form. They can justify it as a "stylistic solution" but it does not work organically, just disrupting concentration of audience.
For the acting, the antagonist Mogami played by Takuya Kimura, the protagonist Okino played by Kazunari Ninomiya (二宮和也) lack of integrity and politeness in Japanese way. It is just wolf men in THE HOWLING (1981) or more precisely yakuza in Takeshi Kitano films. Their way of speaking is "command" not the way of Japanese gentlemen to speak in any occasions in society. Too rude, aggressive and oppressive in dialogues.
This film's acting is howling like a howling of wolf men in THE HOWLING (1981). We can name it as "HOWLING FOR ACTING". A typical Galapagos style with no skills of acting.
They have no skills like Kung fu, as the result, what they can do in acting is just shouting like yakuza, behaving like mafia. This is indignity of acting.
Anyway THE HOWLING (1981) is a true craftsman work and a master piece in the genre but this Dir. Masato Harada (原田真人) stuff is just a piece of shit.
Fairly we have to admit that his good film work was and still is Spellbound (1999). I myself personally expected to see a film like that one but it ended with disappointment.
In ideological aspect, it is a pro Abe regime film. Anti-militarism episode is just a salt for this ideological camouflage for exploiting Chinese market.
One of examples is that when Okino torturing the suspect, serial killer Shigeo Matsukura played by Yoshi Sakô, Okino said that 'receiving annual national pension for old ageing population is a garbage'. This typical Neo liberalist thought against national pension system was brought into this quick dialogue. This film is full of Abe regime's concepts everywhere.
In Japan, prosecutors make their prosecuted cases completely guilty and they are protecting pro US and pro WW 2 militarist reactionaries as an independent political interest party in Japanese jurisdictional establishment. They are not any kinds of super heroes nor idols like Takuya Kimura.
In addition, the cinematography is not cinematic at all. It is rather being called TV videography that is typically lacking precise and adequate lighting among faces of actors.
This does not happen in Hollywood films and Hong Kong films. Its lighting does not additionally light up their facial expressions in the most of the scenes.
Lighting is un professional, it affected the entire quality of this videography. Lack of precise lighting on actors' facial performance is also a typical phenomenon of Galapagos production in the islands.
As a Galapagos production for Galapagos market, it is quite adequate. Japanese filmmaking is clearly sinking and decaying in this way. The number of the total amounts of production is just an illusion.
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