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THE WITNESS

MIENAI MOKUGEKISHA

By Junichi MORI

TOEI COMPANY, LTD. - as SALES All rights, excluding China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea

Thriller - Completed 2019

Natsume dreamed to be a police officer, but she had a car accident with her brother, then she lost the dream, her brother, and eyesight forever. Three years later, while walking on the road with her guide dog, she hears a tiny women’s voice calling for someone’s help and starts trying to seek her.

- Year of production
- 2019
- Genres
- Thriller, Drama, Crime
- Countries
- JAPAN
- Languages
- JAPANESE
- Duration
- 128 mn
- Director(s)
- Junichi MORI
- Writer(s)
- Kiyomi FUJII, Junichi MORI
- Cast
- Riho YOSHIOKA, Mahiro TAKASUGI, Koji OHKURA, Kodai ASAKA, Jun KUNIMURA, Miyuki MATSUDA, Tomorowo TAGUCHI
- Synopsis
- A serial murderer lurks in the darkness and so does his blind witness. The witness-- a former police officer-- has to solve gruesome serial murders with every resource available to her, except her vision. This crime thriller is both chilling and stimulating.
  
  Riho Yoshioka plays the part of Natsume. In her second starring role, she is playing a visually impaired person in a crime thriller. Mahiro Takasugi plays the skateboarding teenager who acts as Natsume's set of eyes. Supporting them is a cast of experienced actors such as Koji Ohkura, Kodai Asaka, Jun Kunimura, Miyuki Matsuda and Tomorowo Taguchi.
  
  The movie highlights the disadvantages of not being able to see which enhances the horror and thrills. It is based on Blind, a South Korean movie from 2011. The screenwriter, Kiyomi Fujii, and the director, Jun'ichi Mori, adapted the story into a culturally more relevant contemporary, Japanese setting. Mori, a master of suspense, explored the darkness within us with the critically acclaimed, A Pierrot (2009). In this movie he makes a social commentary about marginalized people who are "invisible" in our society, mixed with uninhibited violence that pushes the genre's envelope.
  You will synchronize with the blind protagonist and experience things through her senses; as she feels, smells, and hears. You will "witness" the chilling crime and shocking truth as the mystery unfolds to her. Joining well-crafted thrillers like SE7EN (1995), this sensory mystery balances shock and drama for maximum impact. Witness it!