The film version of Kitano Takeshi’s novel Kyoso Tanjo is about a contemporary social problem: the great popularity of new religious groups. The story describes the everyday activities of such a new sect and investigates the existence of God and the meaning of religion for people, seen through the eyes of a young man who previously had no religious feelings whatsoever.One day Kazuo Takayama meets, on his way home, the recruiters of a new sect. He already knows something about them, for instance about their use of tricks in their ‘performances’ and fake converts. He becomes interested in the dirty-tricks side of sect and somehow feels attracted to the group.The old man who is called the founder of the sect is in reality controlled from behind the scenes by supervisor Shima, who has complete control over the group. When one dat the ‘founder’ acts slightly too independently, Shima decides to replace him by a new leader and who would be better than Kazuo, the new member?Karen Regelman wrote in Variety: ‘An atypical modern Japanese film that comes as a surprise for both what it is (a slow, thoughtful look at religion and spirituality) and what it isn’t (melodramatic, romantic, violent)’. Director Toshihiro Tenma has been assistant to Kitano Takeshi, who plays in Many Happy Returns the role of the manipulating supervisor of the sect.
