Key of Life

What happens when a debt-ridden, suicidal actor accidentally switches his morbid and ruined life with that of a meticulous and wealthy Yakuza assassin? Kenji Uchida answers that question in his wry, modern twist on classic Howard Hawks-era screwball comedies. After unemployed thespian Kimura, played with an amusing lazy restraint by Teruyuki Kagawa, inadvertently sends hit man Kondo (Masato Sakai) to the hospital with a serious head injury and severe amnesia, the actor takes advantage of the situation by taking on the gangster's role, trading his own sad existence for one of perpetual thrills. Sakai turns in a hilariously subdued performance as the fierce assassin suddenly transformed into a nonplussed, but still well-organized, amnesiac who ironically takes acting way more seriously than Kimura. Upping the absurdity ante and adding a touch of romantic comedy is Ryoko Hirosue as a seriously repressed book company CEO who is on the prowl for a husband. Within the mad comic swirl of the action and lunacy of ever-increasing plot twists, Uchida shrewdly explores themes of identity and anonymity.

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