Killers (2014 film)

Killers

Killers movie poster on 2014 Sundance Film Festival
Directed by Mo Brothers
Produced by Yoshinori Chiba
Shinjiro Nishimura
Takuji Ushiyama
Kimo Stamboel
Timo Tjahjanto
Written by Takuji Ushiyama
Timo Tjahjanto
Starring Kazuki Kitamura
Oka Antara
Rin Takanashi
Luna Maya
Music by Fajar Yuskemal
Aria Prayogi
Cinematography Gunnar Nimpuno
Edited by Arifin Marhan Japri
Production
company
Nikkatsu
Guerilla Merah Films
Damn Inc.
Media Prima Productions
PT. Merantau Films
Million Pictures
Holy Bastards
Point Set. Corp
Django Films
Distributed by XYZ Films
Lionsgate (worldwide distribution)
Release dates
  • 20 January 2014 (2014-01-20) (Sundance)
  • 1 February 2014 (2014-02-01) (Japan)
  • 6 February 2014 (2014-02-06) (Indonesia)
Running time
 137 minutes
Country Japan
Indonesia
Language Japanese
Indonesian
English

Killers (Japanese: キラーズ, "Kirazu") is a 2014 Japanese-Indonesian psychological thriller film directed by Indonesian director duo The Mo Brothers. This film marks the first collaboration in the thriller genre between Japan and Indonesia. The story was written by Takuji Ushiyama with Timo Tjahjanto of The Mo Brothers.

Plot

Nomura Shuhei is a young, charismatic, and charming Japanese executive based in Tokyo who has a dark side nobody knows. He kills people and has been recording the action in videos. Nomura uploads videos of his killing on the Internet in order to be seen by everyone.

While driving around the streets, he discovers a woman, Hisae preparing to murder her autistic brother to wait in front of the road to be accidentally rammed by a car. But suddenly Hisae cannot bring this to her sense, only for her to be pulled away his brother. Fascinated by this, He becomes attached to Hisae.

On the other hand, there is Bayu Aditya, an ambitious Jakarta-based journalist. His obsession to uncover a story of a corrupted politician named Dharma makes his marriage and career fall apart. He corners Dharma in the parking lot, only to be beaten by one of Dharma's bodyguards.

While coming home from work, Bayu accidentally kill a Taxi-driver and his partner for trying to rob and assault him. In a desperate condition, Bayu sees one of Nomura's videos and begins to raise questions about Nomura's life. The unreasonable acts inspired Bayu to find out Nomura's reason for killing. This eventually leads him to follow the dark path to become a serial killer himself. Bayu begins to form his own killer-persona and tries to kill in the name of justice, record his act, and anonymously upload the video on the internet, similar to Nomura's modus operandi.

Bayu goes to Dharma personal fixer, Robert by corners him on his home. While hearing rumbling upstairs, he discover that Robert was a child molester, after discovering a secret door in his home. Angered by this, Bayu pistol-whip Robert, locked him in his basement, ignite him in fire, and finally record his death. But not before telling Bayu, Dharma's whereabouts.

Bayu question Nomura about his remorsful, but Nomura only encourage him to kill again. Bayu storms Dharma's Star Hotel, only to find his son, Adit. Adit, however couring with fear, inform Bayu that his father was never been to the hotel before. Bayu angrily about to pistol-whip him, only for him to shoot Adit, when he had a gun.

Nomura frequently visits Hisae at her flower store. He gave her brother a tazer, to defend himself against bullies.

Unexpectedly, they are eventually connected by the Internet, Nomura is intrigued when he saw Bayu's video and responds. The psychological bond between them grows and becomes more complicated when Nomura decides to meet Bayu personally.[1]

After finding Bayu's wife is murdered, Bayu flees, only to discover Nomura's arrival in Indonesia, after Hisae discovers his killing spree. Bayu suspects Nomura was the killer, corners him across the street. Only for Dharma's bodyguard to ram him across the streets.

Dharma decides to kidnap Bayu's daughter, Elly, only to be saved by Nomura. Nomura later gives Bayu a chance to save his daughter, by killing Dharma, or do nothing by seeing Elly die. Desperate, Bayu kills Dharma in front of his daughter. Disgusted by his action, Bayu angrily beats Nomura, only to be shot by him in the face. Bayu handcuffs Nomura and both fall from the 5th floor of the construction building. The movie ends with Elly watching her father in tears, while still cuffed in the chair.

Cast

Production

In a behind-the-scenes interview on the official movie video channel , The Mo Brothers (Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto) revealed that the original movie title had been Killer Clowns. The concept for the story line involved two masked serial killers from Japan and Indonesia, and their competition to become the best killer representing their countries.

Release

Killers premiered at Sundance Film Festival and Glasgow Film Festival on January 2014. While the Japanese release date was 1 February, the Indonesian release date was 6 February. XYZ Films made a deal with film distributors in various countries for Killers rights of distribution, such as:[2] Germany by Tiberius Film GmbH, France by Wild Side Films, Turkey by Calinos Films, Hong Kong by Sundream Motion Pictures, United Kingdom by Lionsgate, North America by Well Go USA, and Australia & New Zealand by Vendetta Films.

There are few differences between the Indonesian theatrical version with the Japanese and International theatrical version. The Indonesian version has been edited, with a mild violence and nudity scene being removed or softened due to the graphic nature. The Japanese and International theatrical version contains scenes omitted from the Indonesian version. Well Go USA released the film in a limited screening on January 23, 2015[3] and on DVD & Blu-ray on April 7, 2015.[4]

Award & achievement

References

  1. ↑ Kay, Jeremy (20 January 2014). "Timo Tjahjanto, Killers Description". Screen International. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  2. ↑ Kay, Jeremy (30 January 2014). "XYZ Films sells Killers to Lionsgate UK Description". Screen International. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  3. ↑ Killers Come to the U.S. in January
  4. ↑ The Mo Brothers Bring Killers into Your Home Video Collection
  5. ↑ "Sundance 2014: Park City at Midnight". Retrieved 18 January 2014.

External links

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