9 Souls (2003)
"Nain souruzu" (original title)

Nine convicts escape from prison; most are convicted murders. They commandeer a van from a strip club. Their plan is to find a stash of counterfeit money that a deranged cell mate told them... See full summary »

Director:

Toshiaki Toyoda

Writer:

Toshiaki Toyoda

Stars:

Yoshio Harada, Ryûhei Matsuda, Genta Dairaku

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Yoshio Harada	...	Torakichi Hasegawa
Ryûhei Matsuda	...	Michiru Kaneko
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Genta Dairaku	...	Ichiro Ushiyama
Eita	...	Noboru Kaneko
Yû Fujiki	...	Restaurant Owner
Asami Imajuku	...	Kishin
Jun Inoue	...	Nakayama
Itsuji Itao	...	Fujio Kamei
Misaki Itô	...	Yurina
Chihara Junia	...	Kazuma Kuruma (as Kôji Chihara)
Kazuki Kitamura	...	Tamori
Jun Kunimura	...	Yamamoto
Kotomi Kyôno	...	Yoshiko
Akaji Maro	...	Owner of Candy Shop
Takako Matsu	...	Yuki

Storyline

Nine convicts escape from prison; most are convicted murders. They commandeer a van from a strip club. Their plan is to find a stash of counterfeit money that a deranged cell mate told them about, divide it, then part ways. They make it to the site where the money is supposed to be hidden, and then one by one, each seeks out the place he wants to be, a version of home, somewhere to connect. Will it end well for any of them?

---

Plot Keywords:

money | murder | prison | escape from prison | escape | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

19 July 2003 (Japan)

Also Known As:

9 Souls

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eisei Gekijo, Filmmakers, Little More Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 120 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Torakichi: We live in the asshole of the universe. Which makes us constipated shit and the guards diuretics.

User Reviews

Off beat and great

'9 Souls' is a title that fits the movie's psychological slant very well. The plot revolves around a group of prison fugitives so the narrative touches upon the flight itself but there is more of device to explore the inner realities of the characters and how these relate to the world at large. This explains the moments of surreal oddity that interrupt the linear flow of events at pivotal points.

This aspect of introspective lyricism is steeped in several social contexts, some of which are typically Japanese like the yakuza orphan or the hikikomori. So that the movie never loses a sense of structure even as it progresses further into character study territory. And tragedy is at the heart of each of these criminals. True to its calling this movie is gritty, violent and has no qualms in disturbing the viewer. There is more to freedom than simply escaping from behind bars and reconnecting with life on the outside is fraught with difficulties that some simply cannot handle. A sense of dark fatalism seems to motivate these prisoners and their fanciful fantasies are but a result of this.

Its one great flaw is that the cast is somewhat bloated. Nine complex characters are bundled together and it is not easy to give them all the required screen time to flesh out properly so a few fall by the wayside. The same goes with the relationships between these but here the pair of a father who killed his son and of the young man who killed his father emerge naturally as counterparts of sorts. They form an uneasy bond that results in a somewhat perplexing ending.

'9 Souls' does not settle for illusions of regeneration but it does not deny a desire for betterment. Torn between this two extremes and enlivened by a great cast it is a movie that is off beat and intense. Well worth watching.