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THE BACKWATER

TOMOGUI

By Shinji AOYAMA

PICTURES DEPT. CO. LTD. - as SALES All rights, World

Drama - Completed 2013

The sensational novel by Shinya Tanaka, “Tomogui (Dog-Eat-Dog),” which garnered attention nationwide for winning this year’s Akutagawa Prize – one of the most prestigious Japanese literary awards – will be adapted into a film by director Shinji Aoyama (“Sad Vacation” and “EUREKA”).

- Year of production
- 2013
- Genres
- Drama
- Countries
- JAPAN
- Languages
- JAPANESE
- Duration
- 102 mn
- Director(s)
- Shinji AOYAMA
- Writer(s)
- Haruhiko ARAI
- Cast
- Masaki SUDA, Misaki KINOSHITA, Yukiko SHINOHARA, Ken MITSUISHI, Yuko TANAKA
- Producer(s)
- Naoki KAI (STYLEJAM)
- Synopsis
- In 1988, Toma, aged 17, lived with his father, who was engaged in some shady dealings, and his mistress Kotoko in a town by a river. He would sometimes visit his mother, Jinko, who ran a fish shop on the other side of the river, and have her prepare the fish he caught in the river.
  Daily witnessing his father’s abusive sex with Kotoko, Toma felt repulsed, yet was acutely aware of the fact that the same blood ran in his veins. Then, he became engrossed in burgeoning sexuality that he ventured into with his girlfriend, Chigusa Aida. Their relationship, however, came to an abrupt end one day, when he turned violent towards her during sex, just like Father.
  In the meantime, Kotoko, pregnant with Father’s child, ran away from home when the whole town is flooded by the approaching typhoon. Enraged, Father went on search for her, only to come across Chigusa in a shrine he happened to pass by, where she was waiting for Toma to make up with him.