Takashi Miike is taking audiences back into the dark and dangerous world of Bad Lieutenant with Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, a new standalone sequel to Abel Ferrara’s controversial 1992 crime drama. The Japanese genre master behind Audition and Ichi the Killer puts his own unmistakable stamp on the material, with Shun Oguri and Lily James leading the cast.
The story follows a disgraced Tokyo detective whose life spirals into corruption, addiction and violence after he becomes caught in a twisted investigation. What begins as a criminal case quickly expands into a dangerous web involving a vengeful former Yakuza member, an enigmatic FBI agent and the missing daughter of a powerful American family.
Miike’s involvement makes this more than another crime thriller, particularly given his reputation for pushing violence, psychological darkness and genre conventions to uncomfortable extremes. The film also continues the unusual cinematic legacy of Bad Lieutenant, following Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, released in 2009.
Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this September before NEON brings the film to U.S. audiences later this year. With Miike behind the camera and a story built around corruption, crime and personal collapse, this could be one of the year’s most unpredictable Japanese thrillers.
