Confessions of a Dog (ポチの告白 Pochi no kokuhaku)

“Following in the great tradition of, and likely inspired by, Sidney Lumet’s stories of police corruption such as ‘Serpico’ and ‘Prince of the City’…”

- Christopher Bourne, Twitch

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Co-presented with the Canadian Film Centre

Violence, illegal pay-offs, drugs, intimidation – all things that you would relate to the yakuza, the Japanese mafia, but Gen Takahashi’s epic 3-hour exposé introduces us to the most dangerous gang on the streets – Japanese Law Enforcement.

Takeda (Shun Sugata) is an honest police officer, father and husband, but after he’s promoted to detective he quickly becomes embroiled in dirty back room dealings, blackmail, and corruption that goes right to the top of the force. Meanwhile renegade investigator Kusama (Junichi Kawamoto) must decide whether he should shake the foundations of Japanese law enforcement with the information that has come into his possession about the police. What will happen if both these men listen to their consciences? Too controversial to receive a theatrical release in Japan Confessions of a Dog has instead been distributed out of Hong Kong and has won critical praise from around the globe at festival screenings.

Director: Gen Takahashi

Producer: Shozo Tamura, Isao Kodaka, Terukazu Sato & Gen Takahashi

Screenplay: Gen Takahashi (based on a story by Yu Terasawa)

Cinematography: Masahide Iioka & Ryuji Ishikura

Music: Noato Ogura & Urara Takai

Cast: Shun Sugata, Harumi Inoue, Junichi Kawamoto, Kunihiko Ida, Gen Idemitsu, Honoka Asada, Hironobu Nomura, Takayoshi Arai, Tadao Fujimura, Reila Aphrodite

Released: 2006

Running time: 195 minutes

Trailer /  Official Website /  Review (Twitch)

Director’s Bio

Born in Tokyo in 1965 Gen Takahashi began his career at Toei Studios, but quickly relaized that he functioned better as an independent filmmaker. Besides being one of the most sought after screenwriters in the Asia film market he has also has directed such successful features as Lucky Killer (1993), Lady Plastic (2001), Charon (2005), and Goth (2008), the latter of which has just been released on DVD in North America by Well Go USA. He is the founder and operator of his own independent Hong Kong-based production company Grand Cafe Pictures.