Cover Art

Credits

Director: Toshiaki Toyoda Starring: Kee, Takuji Suzuki, Mame Yamada, Koji Chihara, Ryuhei Matsuda, Yoshio Harada, Genta Dairaku, Itsuji Itao and Onimaru Screenplay: Toshiaki Toyoda Country: Japan

9 Souls tells the tale of nine Japanese prison inmates who find a way to escape from their enforced confinement and who subsequently go on the run. En route they pick up a camper van and in order to buy supplies and eat at restaurants they have to don all manner of disguises – at one point even dressing up in drag in order to eat in a café. One by one, the group dwindles as each follows their own path, trying to make sense of their lives and trying to come to terms with the crimes they have each committed. There's also an underlying sub-plot about finding a stash of money that they were told about by another inmate, but this proves to be something of a red herring – as you'll find out when you watch it for yourselves.

That, in a nutshell, is the whole synopsis. It's very difficult to convey the power of the film, as it's an almost entirely audio-visual ride. This film needs to be experienced rather than simply viewed and heard, and describing it is near impossible. It has a rhythm all of its own and a sense of the poetic – a talent that most directors would die for. Toyoda's direction is faultless and his music choices flawless – the disparate elements all blend into a cohesive whole, even the more absurd plot elements are perfectly in tune with the vibe of the film.

But don't go in expecting Miike style violence or a pounding adventure movie, this is a deeply emotive human drama. Each of the nine inmate's go in search of the lives they left behind, only to find that mere fragments of it remain and that old friendships and romances have long since dissolved. This is a hostile world that simply doesn't want them and has no room for them. Whilst incarcerated the world has moved on – and it's this sense of being out of place and out of time that pervades the whole movie. There is no longer a place for them in the lives they once knew, and sometimes the results of finding this out end in tragedy.