After
the thrills of Kamikaze Taxi
and the spills of Bounce-Ko Gals,
Masato Harada has turned his hand to
the kind of film once associated with
Francesco Rosi: the boardroom thriller
which exposes the way that financial
and political power walk hand-in-hand.
Although
fictional, Spellbound's story very closely
reflects the realities of the collapse
of part of Japan's investment banking
sector in 1997.
It
starts when the Tokyo Public Prosecutor
raids the HQ of the Asahi Central Bank
and seizes every file and computer disc,
expecting to find evidence of illegal
loans to racketeers.
With
the support of three colleagues, middle-manager
Kitano (Koji Yakusho, from The
Eel and Shall We Dance?)
makes a stand for honest disclosure,
urging his superiors to confess and
resign. Unfortunately, his own father-in-law
(Tatsuya Nakadai) is the former bank
president who initiated the dubious
loans.
Tony
Rayns
