The police question either a criminal mastermind or a hapless victim in Akira Nagai’s cat-and-mouse crime thriller.
One evening, a man calling himself Suzuki Tagosaku (Jiro Sato) is arrested for vandalising a vending machine. During questioning, he announces he has psychic powers and that a bomb will explode in Tokyo within the hour. His prediction proves true, as does another an hour later. With suspicion immediately on him, the questioning becomes more intense, so top negotiators Kiyomia (Atsuro Watabe) and his assistant Ruike (Yuki Yamada) are brought in. Tagosaku continues to speak in riddles, revealing more bombs, and a deeper reason for why he’s doing all of this.
Well, sort of. Tagosaku is a character whose motivations are not made clear for a very long period of time. And while Suzuki=Bakudan never actually tries to convince us that Tagosaku is a psychic, as that would undermine the entire story, what is does is muddy the waters as to whether or not he’s the main perpetrator, a victim, or just a mouth piece. They confuse you so considerably that you are never quite sure if the bomber is as truly evil as his Heath Ledger-Joker-routine would have you believe.
This is the film’s central conflict, and it’s a damn good one. The back and forth beteween Tagosaku and his interrogators, as well as the b-plots that emerge from it, are so captivating it’s impossible to tell what will happen next. With the police not only looking for the bombs, but also dealing with their own things, Suzuki=Bakudan is a film critical of the institution, highlighting hypocrisy and bad practise through a villain that often feels like he has a point to make. Even if his motivations often seem contradictory.
I should carve out a bit of space to talk about Sato, whose performance is captivatingly deranged. Flip flopping between meekly crying, confusion, sinister snarling and cackling mania, his spin on this sort of character toes a very precarious line between mental illness and clowning on mental illness. Still, he’s able to pull it off, thanks to the constant feeling throughout the film that all of it is an act put on just for the police.
Suzuki=Bakudan’s thesis isn’t always clear and it’s third act tries to tie together a lot of plot threads that might just teeter into Too Many Cooks territory, but the final few moments finally put it all into place, even if it sometimes feels like it’s a bit much. There is an entire secondary plot, during all of this, that deals with the fallout of a senior cop losing his job thanks to his less-than-perfect sexual practises. How Tagosaku has a hand in that story is a bit on the convoluted side, which is the film’s biggest weak point. Still, the performance and overall story is engaging enough, with just of a hint that Tagosak’s nihilism and bleak outlook could have, had he seen it sooner, been diffused entirely.
Verdict: Tense, taut and a touch tragic Suzuki=Bakudan is great interrogation room thriller that packs a lot of bang for its buck.
Sukuzi=Bakudan (2025)
Also known as: 爆弾
Japanese
Director: Akira Nagai
Writers: Hiroyuki Yatsu, Masahiro Yamaura, Katsuhiro Go (novel)
CAST
Yuki Yamada – Ruike
Jiro Sato – Tagosaku Suzuki
Sairi Ito – Sara Koda
Ryota Bando – Taito Yabuki
Shota Sometani – Isao Todoroki
Kanichiro – Ise
Bokuzō Masana – Tsuruku
Kataoka Sennosuke – Tatsuma Ishikawa
Seina Nakata – Miu Ishikawa
Masaya Kato – Yuko Hasebe
Yui Natsukawa – Asuka Ishikawa
Atsuro Watabe – Kiyomiya
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