Really sharp work from Daisuke Chiba

Daisuke Chiba gives this role a little extra shape without making a big show of it. There is a nice lived-in quality to it, nothing too forced. The small reactions do a lot of the heavy lifting. I bought the character pretty quickly, which is not always easy in this kind of film. It is the kind of performance that quietly makes the movie sturdier. It is less about one scene and more about the overall aftertaste.