Review | Masquerade Hotel film review: Takuya Kimura, Masami Nagasawa in glossy whodunnit based on Keigo Higashino novel
- A team of homicide detectives go undercover at a top Tokyo hotel to catch a serial killer in this Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery
- Despite a laughably preposterous plot, the fine ensemble cast makes it all undeniably entertaining
3/5 stars
A team of homicide detectives go undercover at a top Tokyo hotel to catch a serial killer in Masayuki Suzuki’s crowd-pleasing adaptation of Keigo Higashino’s bestselling novel.
Anchoring this glossy, Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit is a playful will-they-won’t-they romance between Takuya Kimura’s unkempt police officer and Masami Nagasawa, who plays the disciplined front-desk employee tasked with schooling him in five-star customer service.
Surrounding the superstar leads is a stellar ensemble of staff, guests and police – all potential suspects – who keep audiences engaged even after the central mystery begins to unravel.
A trio of murders have the Tokyo police department scratching their heads. The victims were killed in different neighbourhoods and in different ways, with nothing connecting them except for a cryptic message left at each scene.
But on discovering that each code reveals the location of the subsequent murder, they arrive at the elegant Hotel Cortesia Tokyo. The hotel offers its full cooperation, allowing a number of police to go undercover as staff members and guests, but the manager (Ryo Ishibashi) insists that they learn the ropes, so as not to jeopardise the reputation of his high-end establishment.