[Hard Days Review Netflix Japan] Dark comedy on the last day of the year, reflecting the grim issues the Japanese police.

Hard Days  A Japanese dark comedy Original Netflix film, After going to extremes to cover up an accident, a corrupt cop’s life spirals out of control when he starts receiving threats from a mysterious witness.

Hard Days Review (No Spoilers)

This film originally premiered in Japanese theaters around mid-2023 before The transition to Netflix ownership has brought about notable differences in terms of cinematography, cast, and storytelling. Despite a familiar plot centered around the challenges of a police officer, the film beautifully incorporates the Japanese context from start to finish, making it distinct and engaging throughout.

he movie begins with a scene of the protagonist, Yuji Kudo (played by Jun’ichi Okada), driving through the rain to find his mother before receiving a call from his wife, leading to an argument. Meanwhile, he receives another call from Senior who is handling difficulties with the yakuza and is about to blame Yuji for it. In the midst of this chaos, he accidentally collides with a young man, resulting in death. Consumed by guilt and having consumed alcohol earlier, he becomes afraid of the consequences and decides to hide the body at the back of his car to deal with later.

However, this act leads him into a series of increasingly dire situations. The narrative unfolds in a dark comedy style, with no comfortable moments. The unexpected events continue to intertwine with the protagonist’s life in every scene. The writer avoids spoilers, as the suspense is a selling point of the story, presenting constant and unexpected twists that bring trouble into the main character’s life.

Viewers witness random and accidental incidents becoming integral to the protagonist’s life in this dark comedy style. There are no easy or comfortable moments throughout the film. The challenges go beyond hide the corpse, extending to the complexities of family life and work responsibilities, set against the backdrop of Japanese society with its pressures on young government officials. The film masterfully navigates the challenges from beginning to end, providing a complete and satisfying resolution to the storyline. The mysterious elements in the ending make it clear that this is not just a coincidence as one might initially think!

In addition to the protagonist’s police storyline, the film introduces an antagonist who relentlessly pursues him. This antagonist is Detective Yazaki (played by Gô Ayano), an internal affairs investigator from the police department, investigating the case involving Yuji Kudo. Before delving into the character’s life, it is revealed that Yazaki has his own share of unfortunate events and misfortunes, possibly even more severe than the protagonist’s.

Despite holding a higher social status within the police force and having a contrasting appearance in society, Yazaki is compelled to engage in unsavory activities and serve corrupt bosses, similar to the protagonist. This eventually transforms him into a villain who no longer cares about anything. This character development provides insight into how the two characters, despite being on opposite sides in terms of their social standing within the police force, end up crossing paths and becoming adversaries on their respective worst days, purely by chance.

Ultimately, the film weaves a complex narrative, creating characters that allow the audience to understand how these two individuals, with seemingly opposite societal roles, come to clash and become each other’s enemies on their respective worst days. The ending action-sequence and tactics, bringing the story to its conclusion story.

The movie is entertaining with a clever portrayal of unfortunate events that befall the characters perfectly. It make you guessing all the time about how they will survive, using a dark comedy style that adds a hint of humor to the challenging situations. However, it remains reasonably logical throughout, until towards the end where the film seems to intentionally the dark comedy a bit too much. By having the antagonist, Yazaki, coincidentally survive death in an almost superhuman way repeatedly. Yet, given that it’s a dark comedy style, it’s understandable that the film emphasizes the theme “Hard Days,” to the extreme.

Both actors played their roles of despair in life quite well. with the dark comedy style of the story, there’s a touch of Japanese overacting, but it doesn’t go to the extent of causing significant issues.

In summary, this is a dark comedy film centered around two police characters who encounter the worst challenges in life and must meet on New Year’s Eve while society is celebrating. The movie tells the story in an entertaining and humorous way from start to finish, reflecting well on the issues within the Japanese police force at various levels. However, the dark comedy style leads to many unexpected events, especially towards the end the antagonist’s role, perhaps a bit too much.

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