Nobody

It would be tempting to call Shundo Okawa's film a Japanese take on Fight Club if it were not so humorless. Three hard-drinking businessmen are drawn unwittingly into a game of vengeance after one of them is beaten to a pulp in a bar. The victims' pals vow revenge, but when they inadvertently murder one of the attackers, they are stalked slowly and ruthlessly by gun-toting, cell-phone-gabbing goons. Who these suit-and-tie thugs are remains a mystery: a new breed of yakuza, perhaps. . . maybe corrupt cops. Or maybe simply another group of businessmen who also got seduced by the adrenaline rush of dodging bullets.

Shundo Okawa has clearly been influenced by his contemporary Takeshi Kitano, whose glossy, surreal mob flicks Fireworks and Sonatine were well received. But Okawa is sludgy where Kitano is edgy, and banal where Kitano is subtle. Like Kitano, Okawa has gorgeous choreography: moody, sensual lighting contrasted with stark, geometric compositions. But all this visual beauty (including an erotic clothed shower scene) can't rescue his film from its soporific pacing and head-scratching plot revelations. At the Museum of Fine Arts.

-- Peg Aloi