The making of fake IDs has a venerable and even noble cinematic history, going back to Donald Pleasence’s document forger in “The Great Escape” (1963), who ruined his eyesight for the sake of his fellow escapees from a German prisoner-of-war camp.
In Koto Nagata’s twist-filled thriller “Baka’s Identity,” the phony ID trade takes on a sinister face. When characters sell their identities to scammers, they become nonpersons who can be exploited and killed without anyone in the wider world knowing or caring.
Based on Jun Nishio’s 2019 novel, the film highlights the plight of youths on society’s margins who turn to crime and get in over their heads. It’s a standard narrative arc, but Kosuke Mukai’s script, which tells the story of three protagonists while moving back and forth in time, has an edgy, of-the-moment feel, though its restless chronological rhythms can tire and confuse.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.