Legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike returns for his latest, a gripping courtroom drama packed with intrigue and disturbing child abuse. What Miike manages to accomplish with aptly-named Sham is nothing short of extraordinary. It tells a compelling story with multiple viewpoints, a complex tapestry of media sensationalism and the power of truth. Who can be believed when abuse comes to light: the loving parents, or the stern professor who allegedly carried it out? Based on the novel by Masumi Fukuda and a true story, Miike tightens the screws on this fascinating thriller as it edges towards its final verdict.
The whole world has gone media crazy for the trial of Seiichi Yabushita (Go Ayano), an elementary school teacher accused of suicide coercion, racial discrimination, and eighteen occasions of excessive corporal punishment on nine-year-old child, Takuto Himuro (Kira Miura). If Yabushita has actually committed these abhorrent crimes, he absolutely deserves to be doxed and outcast from society. But what if the story spun by Takuto’s heartbroken mother, Ritsuko (Kô Shibasaki), can be disproven? Is there a world in which a parent could make up such heinous accusations without evidence? How easy is it to effectively cancel someone in 2003 Japan?
It turns out the answer is actually very easy. Ritsuko and her husband take this abuser to court to sue him for 30 million yen, whilst their Takuto gets diagnosed with a case of severe PTSD. As the trial begins, Miike divides each section into personal testimony, final oral pleas, and the actual final verdict. Each testimony tells a drastically different version of events, and we get to see both on screen in physical flashback rather than simply exploring through narration or dull courtroom exchanges. Miike wisely dodges the frustratingly ambiguous elements of Anatomy of a Fall, instead making quite clear which of the testimonies rings more true. His clinical approach to the storytelling sucks the viewer in immediately. Between rainy gloom and disturbing imagery, Sham exudes an atmospheric energy that only accentuates its greater qualities.
Make no mistake: this is one seriously heavy drama. The first act in particular portrays very disturbing abuse with a child that infuriates. As an immediate reaction, we want the awful person responsible for these deeds to be swiftly served justice. Despite being difficult to watch, this whole segment makes up the backbone of the film being the initial testimony by Ritsuko. Without it, what comes next would not be nearly as interesting. In these scenes, Miike’s genre sensibilities emerge slightly. Could a lesser director have really gone to the extremes, or would the misdeeds play out offscreen? Hayashi Mori’s script no doubt does much of the heavy lifting. By giving nearly every actor two drastically different performances to tap into thanks to the angle of differing perspectives, Mori sets up shocking courtroom revelations with an expert hand.
My experience with Takashi Miike being somewhat limited—Audition and Imprint are great, and Ichi the Killer has been on my watchlist for ages—I still went into Sham expecting great things, and boy does he deliver. He somehow paces a two-hour-plus film with the tight energy of a much shorter one. Once it clicks into place what direction the narrative is headed, looking away becomes impossible. True crime and trials have become red-hot media fodder in modern society, and Sham may prove to become yet another foreign obsession when it finally releases for wider audiences.
Sham world premiered at 2025’s Tribeca International Film Festival.
