Review | Netflix movie review: Bad Lands – Sakura Ando shines in Japanese crime drama that recalls Hirokazu Koreeda’s Shoplifters but turns to trite thrills
- Starring Sakura Ando, Bad Lands begins as an engaging social commentary about Japan’s growing underclass, reminiscent of Hirokazu Koreeda’s film Shoplifters
- The film turns into a genre crime thriller, making this drama co-starring Ryosuke Yamada, about yakuza-led phone scammers, frustratingly superficial
3/5 stars
Sakura Ando stars as a small-time grifter who gets in way over her head in Bad Lands, a Japanese crime drama that attempts to shine a light on the country’s predatory phone scamming industry.
Directed by industry veteran Masato Harada, who enjoyed a return to form with last year’s Hell Dogs, the film wastes no time in plunging its audience into this labyrinthine world, where yakuza thugs oversee a sprawling multi-tiered workforce of chancers, outsiders and ne’er-do-wells all desperate to make ends meet.
We first meet Neri (Ando) tailing a potential target through the bustling streets of Osaka, but before the flustered housewife can surrender her life savings, Neri senses a police presence and walks away from the hand-off. Returning home, she learns that her wayward stepbrother “Crazy Jo” (Ryosuke Yamada) is out of prison and back in town.
Within hours of his return, Jo has gambled his way into an impossible debt with the steely blond loan shark Hayashida (SaringRock), who tasks him with carrying out an assassination to pay off his debt.
Inevitably, things go wrong, and Neri and Jo find themselves in possession of an ill-gotten fortune, prompting every gangster in town to come gunning for them.