Mosquito on the Tenth Floor

Ex-rocker Uchida Yuya’s acting ambitions have been the ruination of several directors since the 1980s, but not Sai Yoichi. In Sai’s first film as director, Uchida plays a dangerously unstable Tokyo cop who drinks way too much. He’s despised by his ex-wife, he embarrasses his daughter (except when she wants something), and he feels more and more like a rapacious blob in a computer game. His inner rage builds up, occasionally exploding in violence against women, aggression towards strangers and, ultimately, in a destructive but futile anti-social act. Sai finesses the revelation that much of this man’s life is lost in fantasy; he also gives us an early cameo from ‘Beat’ Takeshi (as a bookie) and a reminder of what computer screens looked like before Windows came along.