Inspired by recent yarase (faked news) scandals in Japan, [Focus] presents itself as unedited material shot by a small TV current-affairs crew. The director, his woman assistant (the butt of constant sexist jibes) and their cameraman are interviewing an introverted loner who likes to listen in on other people's mobile-phone conversations.
The boy (Tadanobu Asano) has been promised anonymity, but finds himself dragged into a reckless scheme when his intercept equipment happens upon a yakuza phone-call about a gun stashed in a coin-locker at Shinjuku Station.
The director scents a scoop, and demands that they rush to see if the gun is really there…
First-time director Satoshi Isaka turns a prize-winning script by Kazuo Shin into an alarmingly credible slice of faux-verité. At the same time, he gives us a true anti-hero for the 1990s: a young man who relates to the world only by eavesdropping on it. Tony Rayns
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