‘Suzuki=Bakudan’ Is a Sadistic Thriller That Blends the Psychic with the Psychological [Fantasia Review]

“Revenge and love aren’t equals.”

Cat-and-mouse thrillers are absolutely electric when they lock in and are successfully executed. They’re such a fascinating approach to deconstructing crime because they take something as rich as life and death or good versus evil and break it down to a philosophical chess match. Suzuki=Bakudan, based on Katsuhiro Go’s novel of the same name, is a white-knuckle supernatural/psychological thriller that feels both small and intimate yet wild and epic. It’s a stripped-down story that spends the bulk of the film in a tiny interrogation room and leaves the audience unsure whom to trust and whether their central suspect is a terrifying terrorist, a psychic hero, or something sinister that lies somewhere in the middle. It’s a confident and uniquely captivating crime thriller that goes out with a bang – literally.

Suzuki=Bakudan, which translates to “Suzuki=Bomb,” hits the ground running with an alluring premise that quickly hooks its claws into the audience and leaves them eager for answers. Tagosaku Suzuki (Jiro Sato) is a peculiar outcast who is arrested for an innocuous act of disorderly conduct. During his interrogation, he claims that he has clairvoyant abilities and proceeds to accurately predict a series of bombings in Tokyo, with more attacks on the way. The police, mystified yet skeptical of Suzuki’s abilities, engage in his daunting mind games and esoteric riddles to prevent more casualties and determine who is truly responsible for these terrorist attacks.

Akira Nagai’s careful direction and meticulous pacing turn this adrenaline-pumping mystery into a genuine magic trick. Suzuki=Bakudan operates with a freewheeling, unpredictable, and chaotic energy that leaves the audience trusting its unusual process, much like the interrogators with Suzuki. There are so many lengthy scenes that consist entirely of Suzuki running his mouth while he’s under scrutiny. These rambling monologues are slightly exhausting and elicit anxiety, but that’s the point. Suzuki=Bakudan wants its audience to be fully immersed in this unconventional experience as if they’re also stuck in the interrogation room with Suzuki. 

This becomes a claustrophobic examination of identity through a darkly nihilistic lens that’s occasionally tone-deaf and glib, but still manages to engage in some compelling commentary on power, anarchy, and justice. takes its time and lets these scenes breathe. There’s still a kinetic quality to the plot that’s absolutely thrilling and will have the audience leaning forward and all in. This structure creates tension by calling out and undercutting its own cliched contrivances. is incredibly intentional on this front. Whenever it seems like it’s started to head into generic and lazy tropes, it will be revealed as an effort to disarm and destabilize interrogator Todoroki () – and by extension – the audience.