Japan Cuts XV Review: KIBA: THE FANGS OF FICTION, The Politics Of Pageturner Pursuits
Author Takeshi Shiota’s titular 2016 novel is brought to life on the big screen in director Daihachi Yoshida’s new film, Kiba: The Fangs Of Fiction, entailing a story of internal scheming and struggle for a major print publishing giant in the wake of economic struggle in the digital era, and a corporate power vacuum ensued by sudden tragedy. It’s 2019, and the death of long-heralded golden age publisher Kunpu’s patriarch, Kinosuke Iba, is the latest addition to the pressure the company now faces in its efforts to get out of the red. Just then, savvy and smooth-talking magazine executive, Teruya Hayami (Yo Oizumi), makes his entrance to take the wheel of Kunpu’s culture imprint, Trinity, though his welcome is not without provocation by Kunpu’s newly installed CEO, Tomatsu (Koichi Sato), who decides to reintroduce Kunpu’s monthly output as a quarterly instead. Furthermore, it appears Tomatsu has other plans of his […]