Suzuki = Bakudan (Japan, 2026)
Official Synopsis from https://japansociety.org/events/suzukibakudan/
Based on the bestselling novel by Go Katsuhiro, SUZUKI=BAKUDAN is a big-budget blockbuster centered on Tagosaku Suzuki (Jiro Sato), a mysterious drunk who claims he can see the future. After successfully predicting a bomb will go off in Tokyo, Suzuki leads the police in a game of wits — they must solve his riddles to stop further explosions. While police fan out over the city to defuse these bombs, a young detective (Yuki Yamada) challenges Suzuki to uncover the truth behind his predictions. Is he psychic, is he lucky, is he a criminal mastermind, is he a con man? Or is he something worse? Jiro Sato delivers a tour-de-force performance and was honored with Best Supporting Actor at this year’s Japanese Academy Awards for his role in SUZUKI=BAKUDAN.
Review
I had just seen Suzuuki=Bakudan’s star Jirō Satō as the antagonist of the thriller Nameless at another festival just a week before seeing this film, and I can tell you that he has delivered two chillingly excellent villain lead roles in the two films. Here he plays a mysterious homeless man who claims to have lost some of his memory and who, under the right circumstances, has psychic powers of prediction.
Satō’s performance is reason enough to recommend Suzuki=Bakudan, but the members of the sizable supporting cast all give remarkable performances. Shôta Sometani — who also stars in the 2026 horror film AnyMart — as one of the detectives working on the ensuing bombing case, and Yuki Yamada and Atsuro Watabe as specialists assigned to take over the case are just a few examples.
Director Akira Nagai blends the increasingly suspenseful interrogation scenes and the action surrounding the multiple bombings masterfully. The running time of 2 hours and 16 minutes never felt long to me as the pacing worked wonderfully.
Aficionados of cat-and-mouse thrillers will want to place Suzuki=Bakudan on their must-see lists. Beautifully shot by Tetsuya Kondo, it’s a tension-filled ride with mystery and mayhem aplenty.
Junk World (Japan, 2025)
Official Synopsis from https://japansociety.org/events/junk-world/
A prequel to Takahide Hori’s outrageous, word-of-mouth marvel JUNK HEAD (2017), JUNK WORLD expands upon its predecessor’s absurdist stop-motion biosphere of Giger-esque, cenobite-inspired lifeforms, grotesque humor and worldbuilding mythos. Sent to explore an unexplained anomaly detected deep within the underground trenches, an expedition of humans and Mulligans—artificial beings once used as a labor force by humanity—are attacked by a radical sect of shibari-tied, leather chaps-adorning cultists. Alongside a snaking and ambitious narrative, Hori populates his subterranea with a New World’s flora and fauna, bearing evolutionary processes beyond comprehension; violent, unpredictable aberrations and cannibalistic permutations; and entire civilizations sprung up simultaneously across minutes and millennia.
Review
Having not seen writer/director Takahide Hori’s Junk Head, the first film in this stop-motion animated science fiction series, I watched this sequel as a standalone. It’s weird and wild, with a story that is sometimes convoluted. The big draw here, however, is not the plot. It’s the wonderfully crafted stop-motion animation by Hori and his team.
If you are a stop-motion animation aficionado, you’ll want to watch Junk World for its incredible craft. If you are a science fiction buff, there’s plenty to whet your appetite: Time warping, creepy creatures, and no shortage of chase and fight scenes. If you are a fan of both elements, you’ll want to check out Hori’s vision. Viewer mileage will certainly vary, but the skillful animation and visuals make the ride worth the effort.
Suzuki = Bakudan and Junk World screened as part of Japan Cuts, which ran July 8–18, 2026 in New York City.
