# Villain (2010 film)
**Villain** (*Akunin*, 悪人) is a 2010 Japanese crime drama directed by Lee Sang-il (李相日), adapted from Shūichi Yoshida's bestselling novel of the same name, about a lonely construction worker who commits murder and flees with a woman he meets through an online dating site.[1](https://jfdb.jp/title/2227) It was produced by the "Akunin" Production Committee and distributed by Toho, opening in Japan on 11 September 2010 with a running time of 139 minutes.[1](https://jfdb.jp/title/2227)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *Akunin* (悪人), meaning "villain" |
| Release | 11 September 2010, Japan; 139 minutes; Toho; PG-12 rating[1](https://jfdb.jp/title/2227) |
| Source | Shūichi Yoshida's novel, serialized in the Asahi Shimbun evening edition, winner of the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award and the Ōtsuji Jirō Award[2](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0008224) |
| Director and screenplay | Lee Sang-il, co-writing the screenplay with Yoshida[1](https://jfdb.jp/title/2227) |
| Lead cast | Satoshi Tsumabuki as Shimizu Yuichi; Eri Fukatsu as Magome Mitsuyo; Masaki Okada as Masuo Keigo; Hikari Mitsushima as Ishibashi Yoshino[3](https://filmarks.com/movies/28794) |
| Music | Joe Hisaishi; theme song by Miho Fukuhara[3](https://filmarks.com/movies/28794) |
| Major honors | Four acting prizes at the 34th Japan Academy Awards; Best Actress for Fukatsu at the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival; first place in Kinema Junpo's 2010 Best Ten[4](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=299) • [1](https://jfdb.jp/title/2227) • [5](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/wp-content/uploads/NFAJNo40_456.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and theme
The story begins with the murder of a young insurance saleswoman, Ishibashi Yoshino, at a pass in Kyushu. A wealthy university student, Masuo Keigo, initially falls under suspicion, but the investigation soon points to a construction worker, Shimizu Yuichi.[2](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0008224) Yuichi picks up Magome Mitsuyo, an office worker at a menswear store whom he had met through an online dating site, and the two drift from place to place evading the police while falling into a desperate, doomed love affair.[2](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0008224) • [6](https://eiga.com/movie/55078)
The film's central question is stated in its marketing: "Who is the real 'villain'?"[6](https://eiga.com/movie/55078) The critic Kaki Michihiro of Eiga.com wrote that a person has many sides and cannot simply be condemned as evil because he is a murderer, since anyone can become perpetrator or victim through a small turn of events.[7](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/55078/critic/) The film also examines the families left behind: Yuichi's grandmother Fusae (Kirin Kiki), who raised him in place of his mother and is hounded by the press, and Yoshino's father Yoshikazu (Akira Emoto), who directs his anger at the student Masuo. Although the two stand in opposite positions, their grief over a lost family member is shared.[7](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/55078/critic/)
## Adaptation from the novel
Yoshida's original novel is built from the monologues of people connected to the crime, approaching Yuichi's character from multiple viewpoints. For the film, Yoshida and Lee narrowed the cast of characters, which increased the weight given to the grandmother Fusae and to Yoshino's father Yoshikazu.[7](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/55078/critic/) The novel had been serialized in the Asahi Shimbun evening edition and won both the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award and the Ōtsuji Jirō Award; Yoshida regards it as his representative work.[2](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0008224) • [8](https://www.borderless-tokyo.co.jp/video-trivia/movielist/japanese/akunin.html) A Nippon.com profile of Yoshida notes that his later novel *Rage* (2014) was inspired by the transformation of the murderer in the 2007 [Lindsay Ann Hawker](https://www.edgepedia.org/murder-of-lindsay-hawker) case, and that Lee Sang-il had cooperated with Yoshida on the script and production of the *Villain* adaptation.[9](https://www.nippon.com/en/people/e00103/)
## Production
Lee Sang-il had swept Japanese film awards with his previous feature *Hula Girls* (2006), and *Villain* was described by the Japanese Film Database as a substantial social drama from that director.[1](https://jfdb.jp/title/2227) Tsumabuki, who had wanted to appear in the film since reading the novel, played the murderer Yuichi, with Fukatsu as the woman who joins his flight.[10](https://lp.p.pia.jp/event/movie/17760/index.html) Location shooting took place in Fukuoka in November 2009, including a tense scene on Keyaki Street in which Yoshikazu chases Masuo, whom he believes was involved in his daughter's death.[11](https://www.fukuoka-film.com/film/13/) The film was shot on 35 mm film in color at an American Vista (1:1.85) aspect ratio with [Dolby Digital](https://www.edgepedia.org/dolby-digital) sound.[1](https://jfdb.jp/title/2227)
## Reception and awards
**Japanese honors.** At the 34th Japan Academy Awards in 2011 the film received 15 nominations across 13 categories and won four acting prizes: Tsumabuki for best actor, Fukatsu for best actress, Emoto for best supporting actor, and Kirin Kiki for best supporting actress as Yuichi's grandmother.[4](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=299) • [12](https://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=34) It was an Outstanding Picture nominee, with the top prize going to *Confessions*.[12](https://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=34) Fukatsu also won Best Actress at the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival, where the film competed in the World Competition section.[1](https://jfdb.jp/title/2227) • [12](https://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=34) The film placed first in Kinema Junpo's 2010 Best Ten, and Lee and Yoshida took that magazine's director and screenplay prizes.[5](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/wp-content/uploads/NFAJNo40_456.pdf) • [12](https://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=34)
**Critical response abroad.** On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 57% Tomatometer from 14 reviews, with an audience score of 71% from more than 250 ratings.[13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/villain_2010_2) Reviewers in the United Kingdom were mixed: Philip French in *The Observer* called it overlong and found the police-procedural aspect unconvincing, while Derek Malcolm in the *London Evening Standard* gave it three of five stars, judging that its best parts are very good and that Lee's direction makes the most of them.[14](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/aug/21/villain-lee-sang-il-review) • [13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/villain_2010_2) *Time Out* described it as a bleak and rounded, if ultimately conservative, take on a criminal act and its impact on those involved, depicting a generation marked by loneliness and selfish urges amid flash cars, online dating, and love hotels.[15](https://www.timeout.com/movies/villain-1) On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.0 out of 10.[16](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1542840/ratings/)
## References
1. [悪人 (VILLAIN), Japanese Film Database (JFDB)](https://jfdb.jp/title/2227)
2. [悪人 (2010)：キャスト・あらすじ・作品情報, Cinema Today](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0008224)
3. [悪人の作品情報・感想・評価・動画配信, Filmarks](https://filmarks.com/movies/28794)
4. [The Japan Society – Akunin [Villain] review](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=299)
5. [National Film Archive of Japan program notes (NFAJ No. 40)](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/wp-content/uploads/NFAJNo40_456.pdf)
6. [悪人：作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, Eiga.com](https://eiga.com/movie/55078)
7. [悪人：映画評論・批評（垣井道弘）, Eiga.com](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/55078/critic/)
8. [悪人｜李相日, Borderless Tokyo](https://www.borderless-tokyo.co.jp/video-trivia/movielist/japanese/akunin.html)
9. ["Villain" Author Enters a World of Rage, Nippon.com](https://www.nippon.com/en/people/e00103/)
10. [悪人の作品情報・あらすじ・キャスト, Pia](https://lp.p.pia.jp/event/movie/17760/index.html)
11. [悪人｜支援作品, Fukuoka Film Commission](https://www.fukuoka-film.com/film/13/)
12. [第34回日本アカデミー賞, Japan Academy Prize official site](https://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=34)
13. [Villain (2010), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/villain_2010_2)
14. [Villain – review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/aug/21/villain-lee-sang-il-review)
15. [Villain 2011, directed by Lee Sang-Il, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/villain-1)
16. [Villain (2010) – Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1542840/ratings/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2010–2014 films › Titles M to W*
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