Go Ayano seldom seems more content than when he’s playing thoroughly broken men. He’s given an especially choice assignment in Takashi Miike’s “Sham,” in which he portrays an elementary school teacher who gets subjected to an ordeal worthy of Franz Kafka.

Seiichi Yabushita (Ayano) is suspended from his job and then taken to court for allegedly bullying a 9-year-old student, Takuto (Kira Miura), and pushing him to attempt suicide. The boy’s mother, Ritsuko (Ko Shibasaki), claims that the abuse left her son suffering from PTSD. Unsatisfied with the school’s handling of the case, she takes the story to a tabloid hack, Michihiko Narumi (Kazuya Kamenashi), who publishes a sensationalized account that reveals Seiichi’s identity and brands him a “killer teacher.”

Forced by his spineless superiors to make a public apology, Seiichi finds himself vilified and facing a civil lawsuit for ¥58 million in damages, waged by Ritsuko and a mind-boggling 550-strong legal team. In his corner is Toshio Yugamidani, the only lawyer who is willing to take his case — played with rumpled, Columbo-style charm by Kaoru Kobayashi. The odds are stacked against them, but you can probably guess how this is all going to play out.