is a Japanese

suspense Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, being undecided, or being doubtful. In a dramatic work, suspense is the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery, particularly as it aff ...

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Lee Sang-il, based on Shuichi Yoshida's mystery novel of the same name. It was released in Japan on September 17, 2016.

Plot

The movie has three separate stories that are connected through a murder that takes place at the beginning in a suburban neighborhood in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. A mysterious man, whose face we never see, brutally murders a married couple in their home and paints the word “rage” on the door their blood. Detectives Kunihisa Nanjō (

Pierre Taki , better known by his stage name , is the front man for Japanese synthpop group Denki Groove, which consists of himself and Takkyu Ishino. As of 2001 he was involved in an exhibit called Prince Tongha with Hideyuki Tanaka in New York City. He als ...

) and Sōsuke Kitami (

Takahiro Miura is a Japanese actor. He graduated from Juntendo University Sports Health Science Department. He is represented with Anoré. His father is Tomokazu Miura who is also an actor, his mother is actress and former singer Momoe Yamaguchi , known by ...

) investigate the double homicide and discover that the perpetrator has gone through plastic surgery to escape the authorities. Then, we are shown the lives of three young men living in different parts of modern-Japan who might be the murderer. In Chiba, a reclusive newcomer Tashiro Tetsuya ( Matsuyama Kenichi) arrives in town and befriends Aiko ( Miyazaki Aoi), a problematic young woman who was working in a brothel for a few months. She had only recently returned to her hometown after her father, Maki Yohei ( Watanabe Ken) following an incident with a customer that left her traumatized. Tetsuya is the only person in town who can accept Aiko despite her dark past and Maki blesses their relationship. However, he begins to suspect that Tetsuya is not who he says he is after realizing that he is lying about his past. Aiko then reveals that Tetsuya is actually on the run from the

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

who are after him for not paying his dead father's unpaid debts. However, Aiko herself starts to suspect Tetsuya is not telling the truth after realizing that he looks strikingly similar to one of the sketches of the murderer. The second story revolves around Onishi Naoto ( Ayano Go), who hides out at a gay bathhouse in Tokyo to avoid people. One night, he is approached by Fujita Yuma ( Tsumabuki Satoshi), an openly gay man. Naoto resists Yuma at first, but Yuma holds Naoto down and they have rough sex. Then, Yuma takes Naoto out for dinner and learns that he does not have a place to stay. Yuma offers to let him stay with him until Naoto finds a permanent place and they both become housemates. They slowly fall in love and Yuma even introduces Naoto to his sick mother and his other gay friends. When Yuma's mother dies, Naoto comforts him and they become even closer. However, Yuma sees Naoto with an unknown girl at a cafe one day. Yuma also starts to realize that Naoto resembles another one of the police sketches of the murderer. When Yuma confronts Naoto about this, he does not give a direct answer and instead leaves their apartment the following morning. The third story is about Tanaka Shingo ( Moriyama Mirai), a free-spirited homeless young man who lives alone on an abandoned island near

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

. One day, a teenage girl, Suzuya Izumi ( Hirose Suzu), moves into the town with her single mother. She makes friends with a local boy, Chinen Tatsuya ( Takara Sakumoto), who has feelings for her. One day, while exploring the island, Izumi meet Shingo and they strike a friendship. One night, the three accidentally meet in

Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area i ...

. Tatsuya, who gets drunk, is momentarily separated from Izumi, who tries to search for him. Instead, she gets brutally raped by two American soldiers from the nearby army base. Tatsuya sees this but is too scared to fight off the soldiers. After the soldiers leave, Izumi makes Tatsuya promise to not tell anyone what had just happened. Meanwhile, in Chiba, Aiko starts to fear for her life and eventually calls the police, but not before tipping off Tetsuya. Tetsuya runs away before the detectives arrive to test his fingerprints. The forensic tests reveal that he is not the murderer. Aiko becomes unstable again as she fears she has lost the one man who would ever love her forever. However, Tetsuya calls her one last time and Maki manages to convince him to come home. Although Tetsuya is now happily reunited with Aiko, Maki has to live in fear for the rest of his life that his daughter's life will forever be in danger because of Tetsuya's dark past. At the same time, Yuma meets the girl Naoto was talking to at the café. However, as it turns out, Naoto and the girl had both grown up in the same facility for orphans with health issues making her the closest thing to family he has. She also reveals to Yuma that Naoto had been living in the closet his entire life and that he'd fell in love with him because of his confidence and courage, however, he became heartbroken after Yuma starts questioning about his past. It's then revealed that after he left their apartment, Naoto had died of a heart attack shortly afterward. In

, Tatsuya arranges for Shingo to work at his family's hotel. Later, Shingo reveals to Tatsuya that he in fact witnessed the rape himself but like him was also too scared to take any actions. One night, they both reveal to each other that they both saw Izumi being raped by the Americans but were both too scared to do anything. One evening, Shingo suffers from a sudden fit of rage and escaped back to the island. The following morning, Tatsuya goes to meet him there and finds the word "rage" scratched onto the wall, although he does not know what it means. In the end, Shingo confesses that he actually saw the Americans ogling Izumi and shadowed them as they followed her. However, he did nothing to warn her because he wanted to see her raped; this bombshell causes Tatsuya to suffer a mental breakdown, violently stabbing Shingo in the stomach before calling the police.

Cast

;

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

Ken Watanabe is a Japanese actor. To English-speaking audiences, he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in '' Letters from Iwo Jima'' and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in ''The Last Samurai'', for which he was nomi ...

as Yōhei Maki *

Kenichi Matsuyama is a Japanese actor. He is known for his affinity for strange character roles, and he is best known internationally for playing L in the 2006 films ''Death Note'', '' Death Note 2: The Last Name'' and '' L: Change the World'' in 2008, as well a ...

as Tetsuya Tashiro *

Aoi Miyazaki is a Japanese actress. She is known for her roles in ''Nana'' and '' Virgin Snow''. Career Miyazaki started working in the entertainment industry at the age of four. Initially she appeared mostly in commercials, magazine advertisements, and a ...

as Aiko Maki *

Chizuru Ikewaki is a Japanese actress. Career Ikewaki was given a Best New Talent award at the 2000 Yokohama Film Festival for her performance in ''Osaka Story''. She appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2012 television drama ''Penance''. She has also appeared in f ...

as Asuka ;

Satoshi Tsumabuki is a Japanese actor. His breakthrough film was ''Waterboys'' for which he was nominated for the 'Best Actor' award at the Japanese Academy Awards, and won the 'Newcomer of the Year' prize. He is also the bassist and lead singer of the Japanese ...

as Yūma Fujita *

Gō Ayano is a Japanese actor. Career Ayano was featured in several roles beginning in 2003. In 2009, he appeared in Takashi Miike's '' Crows Zero 2''. His role in the film was described by Mark Schilling of ''The Japan Times'' as "a tall, pale-faced, del ...

as Naoto Ōnishi *

Mitsuki Takahata is a Japanese actress and singer who is represented by the talent agency Horipro. She attended Hosei University as an undergraduate student Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate ed ...

as Kaoru *Hideko Hara as Takako Fujita ;

Mirai Moriyama is a Japanese actor and dancer. Life and career Moriyama started training in dance when he was 5 years old. He trained in jazz dance, tap dance, ballet and hip-hop, and he appeared in several stage roles. He officially made his stage debut with ...

as Shingo Tanaka *

Suzu Hirose is a Japanese actress and model. Despite her young age, she is widely regarded as one of the most promising Japanese actresses of her generation. Biography Hirose debuted as a model for Japanese fashion magazine ''Seventeen'', alongside her sis ...

as Izumi Komiyama *Takara Sakumoto as Tatsuya Chinen ;Detectives *

as Kunihisa Nanjō *Takahiro Miura as Sōsuke Kitami

Reception

On its opening weekend in Japan, the film was third placed by admissions, with 170,000, and fourth placed by gross, with .

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rage 2016 films Films set in the 2010s Films set in 2012 Films set in 2013 Films set in 2014 Films based on Japanese novels Films based on mystery novels Japanese neo-noir films Japanese LGBT-related films Gay-related films Films about terrorism in Asia Films scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto Films set in Okinawa Prefecture Films set in Tokyo 2010s Japanese films