I was really keen on seeing this film and now that i have i'm totally disappointed. The director of this movie is so ambitious to give the viewer a movie of epic proportions that he has just forgotten to put a story into it. Kitano does his best to give his two-dimensional role of the rapist/husband some depths, the other actors are all very good and the cinematography has the charm of photographs of the past but there is no possibility to actually care for any of the characters. The movie is such a bric-a-braque that you won't even learn anything at all about it's narrator, Kitanos son Masao. I have no problem with movies this violent but when you don't suppose to feel anything for the victims it is a waste of time, and for 144 Min. a very long one. In my eyes Yoichi Sai is a bad director because he hasn't put his heart into something that could have been a fascinating movie.