Goth (2008 film)

Goth
Directed by	Gen Takahashi
Produced by	Takafumi Ohashi Shunsuke Yamada
Starring	Kanata Hongô Rin Takanashi Kunihiko Ida Mika Kamiya Kôtarô Kano Chika Kumagai Toshinobu Matsuo Keishi Nagatsuka
Cinematography	Ryuji Ishikura Shinji Kugimiya
Running time	95 min.
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Goth is a 2008 Japanese drama film directed by Gen Takahashi. The film stars Kanata Hongô, Rin Takanashi, Kunihiko Ida, Mika Kamiya and Kôtarô Kano in the lead roles. It is based on the novel Goth by Otsuichi.

Plot

Numerous locals relax at a public park when one of them gradually notices something strange about a young woman who sits alone. The woman is missing her hand and isn't moving. A nearby schoolgirl watches the incident unfold. Realizing the young woman is dead, the authorities are contacted and a crime scene is set up as the news reports on the incident. It is speculated that the victim was murdered by an at-large killer who had committed a similar crime two months ago. The same schoolgirl from earlier appears again at the crime scene, observing, before she notices a schoolboy who intently observes as well. She seems intrigued by him. The schoolboy is Itsuki Kamayama, a high school student who lives with his younger sister, mother, and father (who is currently away on a work trip).

The schoolgirl, Yoru Morino, talks with Itsuki after class one day. She lends him a book on dead bodies, and he trades her an H.P. Lovecraft book in return. Upon acknowledging their shared interest in dark subject matter, particularly death and murder, they make a plan to look into these recent hand-cutting murders. Yoru takes Itsuki to an underground cafe where she is a regular. She claims "only the strangest people" come to this cafe, and that Itsuki would "fit right in". They begin to talk about the murders, with Itsuki claiming that the killer is an artist of sorts, given his darkly beautiful exhibition of the victims' bodies. He also notes how similar Yoru looks to the victims. They later meet by a river, the scene of the first murder, where Itsuki recounts the victims' information. Both were 19-year-old girls who had their left hands cut off. At Itsuki's request, Yoru lays down in the river in the same position the first victim was found. He notices a scar on her wrist. At school the next day, a few of Itsuki's classmates tease him about hanging out with Yoru, saying that Yoru apparently tried to commit suicide by cutting open her wrist in the past.

Itsuki's sister Sakura walks their dog one morning when the dog suddenly runs off in a barking fit. Sakura gives chase, eventually entering an abandoned building, and accidentally discovers the body of a murder victim. The victim is another young girl with their left hand cut off, marking the third incident. Itsuki tells Yoru that his sister has a strange habit of finding dead bodies, recounting multiple instances in the past when Sakura found deceased animals and people. When Itsuki casually asks Yoru if she has any sisters, Yoru traumatically freezes up. She eventually admits she does have a sister by the name of Yu. Yoru opens up about her sister at the cafe on a rainy day, explaining that Yu was rather gentle and never blamed Yoru for the horrible acts she did while growing up, like feeding their dog bleach. She also reveals to Itsuki that Yu accidentally killed herself after recklessly playing around with a red noose, and that her sister was the first dead body she ever saw.

At school, Yoru shows Itsuki a notebook supposedly owned by the killer, although she refuses to tell him where she found it. Inside, it reveals the location of a possible fourth victim. The two follow a hand-drawn map in the notebook, eventually finding the body of yet another young woman with a missing left hand. Itsuki debates handing over the information they have to the authorities, but Yoru adamantly states that they're keeping the notebook. That night, Yoru has a nightmare about her sister. She goes to school the next morning in a mentally unwell state. After class, she asks Itsuki to come with her. She takes him to a store that sells rope, telling him that she ties ropes around her neck when she has trouble sleeping. After they briefly check out the abandoned building where the third murder victim was found, Itsuki notes how their fascination with murders isn't the same. While Itsuki is more interested in the killer, Yoru is personally obsessed with the victims.

Itsuki and Yoru meet at the cafe once again, but this time Yoru is dressed completely differently, and even orders a different drink this time, confusing the other patrons as well as the cafe owner. Yoru explains that she modeled her new look after the fourth victim. Itsuki tells her how dangerous her actions are, mentioning how she could be next if she presents herself this way. After the two part ways, Yoru receives a cryptic phone call from someone claiming he knows who she is. Yoru finds a newspaper clipping in her mailbox about her sister's death. Believing that Itsuki was the one taunting her with the call and news clip, Yoru tells him not to talk to her again.

On the way to school, a car drives up to Yoru, but the driver isn't visible. After a moment, Yoru gets in the car. She does not come to class that day. As a result of her absence, Itsuki decides to check out other locations that the killer cited in his notebook as good places to exhibit bodies. Finding nothing, he anxiously sits at a bench with the notebook in his hand. Sweat from his forehead falls onto the book, staining the ink to the point of ineligibility. Itsuki decides to stop by the cafe and asks if the owner has seen Yoru. The owner claims he hasn't and, once the only other customer pays and leaves, locks Itsuki in the cafe with him. Once they're alone, Itsuki reveals that he knows the owner is behind the murders, connecting details about the notebook to the owner's pattern of behavior. The notebook uses water-based ink, and Yoru stole the book on a particularly rainy day, which troubled the cafe owner. Seeing as how the notebook was stolen yet no information got out, the owner believed that no one was able to read it as the rain would've made the ink vanish, but the final piece of information that tipped Itsuki off was the owner's reaction to seeing Yoru dressed as the most recent victim who hadn't been officially found, which also gave away to the cafe owner that Yoru must've stolen his book. Itsuki hands the notebook back to him, however, and states that he won't reveal any of this information to the police. Having gained the killer's trust, Itsuki is handed a set of keys and, before the killer leaves, is told that Yoru Morino is upstairs.

Upstairs, Itsuki finds all the killer's tools, the victims' left hands, and an unconscious Yoru. Rather than wake her, Itsuki ties a red rope around her neck. Itsuki returns to school, but later calls Yoru who still lies upstairs at the cafe. He asks to hear the rest of the story regarding her sister, although he calls her "Yu". Itsuki explains that the red rope he tied around her neck is the same kind of rope that killed the real Yoru. As Yoru was a bully, Itsuki figured that a bully wouldn't have the guilt to attempt suicide like Yu, the gentler sister, did. When he found out that Yu and Yoru were identical twins through old newspaper articles, he pieced together that Yu must've swapped clothes with Yoru once the latter died, and Yu has been pretending to be her sister for all of nine years. Yu satisfyingly claims she had a feeling that Itsuki would be the first person to call her by her real name. Itsuki hesitantly hangs up the phone, and Yu goes back to sleep with the red rope still around her neck, content.

Cast

• Kanata Hongô as Itsuki Kamayama
• Rin Takanashi as Yoru Morino
• Kunihiko Ida
• Mika Kamiya
• Kôtarô Kano
• Chika Kumagai
• Toshinobu Matsuo
• Keishi Nagatsuka

External links

• Goth at IMDb
• Goth at Rotten Tomatoes