Shangri-La

A print shop owner's brother falls into serious debt to a loan shark after the businessman he worked with goes bankrupt. The solution comes from an unexpected place: a village of homeless people living by the river. Its residents put together an elaborate plan of stock manipulation, forged documents and blackmail. When it is done they keep nothing, donating the proceeds so the two brothers can go back to ordinary life. Takashi Miike directed, from Yuji Aoki's autobiographical novel. Masakuni Takahashi wrote the screenplay, Hideo Yamamoto photographed it and Koji Endo wrote the music. Show Aikawa plays the Mayor and Shiro Sano his deputy, with Yu Tokui, Akaji Maro and Shigeru Muroi in the cast. It runs 105 minutes. It is a comedy from the period when Miike was known for violence, running a criminal scheme and black humour together. Who it is for: viewers curious about Miike's comic side who enjoy watching a scam assembled step by step. Who it is not for: anyone uneasy about homelessness framed as an adventure. The film often uses poverty as colourful set dressing.