Shadowy security services, from the FBI to the KGB, appear in many films. The Japanese equivalent, the Public Security Intelligence Agency or Koan Keisatsu, also appears in local dramas and films, often in conflict with mainstream police who view them as secretive and uncooperative.
They also provide the title for Hiroto Hara’s mystery thriller “Sakura,” the word being slang for the agency, just as “the Feds” in English means the FBI. Based on Yuko Yuzuki’s bestselling novel, the film features a puzzle plot typical of the genre, but its exposition of Sakura’s inner workings is reminiscent of Michihito Fujii’s critically acclaimed Thriller from 2019 ‘The Journalist’ who pulled back the curtain on the machinations of the ruling parties to cover up a scandal with rare realism.
