Takashi Miike’s Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo premieres at TIFF

Takashi Miike’s new film, ‘Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo’, has premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The movie serves as the latest installment in the franchise established by Abel Ferrara’s 1992 original and Werner Herzog’s 2009 adaptation.

Set in Japan, the story follows Lieutenant Yabuki, played by Shun Oguri, a disgraced detective struggling with drug addiction, gambling debts, and corruption. The plot involves an investigation that connects a vengeful ex-yakuza, an FBI agent played by Lily James, and the disappearance of a daughter from a powerful American family. The cast also includes Liv Morgan.

Critical reception of the film is mixed. Some reviewers describe it as a stylish but sedate entry that lacks the extreme intensity of Miike’s previous works, while others find it a confounding mess of ideas. Despite varying opinions on the narrative, Shun Oguri’s performance has been noted for its ability to anchor the film’s depiction of a man on the edge of collapse.