My Back Page (2011)

Japan has rarely been as politically active as it was in the late 1960's and early 1970's, when students took to the streets and formed militias like the Red Army to push for a Communist revolution. Now, director Yamashita Nobuhiro and his frequent screenwriter Mukai Kosuke (Linda Linda Linda, The Matsugane Potshot Affair) explore that period via Kawamoto Saburo's pseudo-autobiographical novel My Back Page. Tsumabuki Satoshi (Villains) stars as an idealistic journalist who gets caught up in the radical student movement when he meets a dangerous activist, played by Matsuyama Kenichi. Based on a real 1971 murder of a Self Defense Force officer, My Back Page is a gripping thriller about one of the most important eras in contemporary Japanese history. Tokyo, 1968. Tokyo University graduate Sawada (Tsumabuki Satoshi) is eager to become a reporter and begins working at a left-wing newspaper. Intrigued by the political movements happening in universities across Japan, he begins covering the demonstrations as an interested observer. In the process, he meets well-known radical activist Umeyama (Matsuyama Kenichi), whom Sawada believes can give him the story he needs to get ahead. However, the harder police cracks down on the movement, the more recklessly dangerous Umeyama becomes in order to hang on to it. Soon, Sawada discovers that the student revolution isn't as noble as it appears to be.