Keiho

Keiho (Japanese: 39 刑法第三十九条, Hepburn: 39 keihō dai sanjūkyū jō) (the film's Japanese title refers to Article 39 of the Japanese Penal Code) is a 1999 Japanese courtroom drama psychological thriller film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. It stars Shinichi Tsutsumi as an actor standing trial for a gruesome double murder. The film also stars Kyōka Suzuki, Ittoku Kishibe and Naoki Sugiura. Shochiku released Keiho on February 17, 1999, in Japan. The film was nominated for and won several major awards.

Directed byYoshimitsu Morita

Written bySumio Ōmori

Produced by

Hikaru Suzuki
Hajime Yuki
Kazuko Misawa
Tsutomu Yamamoto
Renji Tazawa

Starring

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Keiho
Film poster
Directed by	Yoshimitsu Morita
Written by	Sumio Ōmori
Produced by	Hikaru Suzuki Hajime Yuki Kazuko Misawa Tsutomu Yamamoto Renji Tazawa
Starring	Kyōka Suzuki Shinichi Tsutsumi Ittoku Kishibe Naoki Sugiura Kirin Kiki
Cinematography	Hiroshi Takase
Edited by	Shinji Tanaka
Music by	Toshihiko Sahashi
Production companies	Kouwa International Shochiku
Distributed by	Shochiku
Release date	February 17, 1999 (1999-02-17) (Japan)
Running time	133 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

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Premise

Young actor Masaki Shibata confesses to the murder of a pregnant woman and her husband. Shibata acts strangely in the aftermath, making a point of asking for the death penalty and ranting about angels and demons. The subsequent psychiatric evaluation reveals evidence of a split personality and concludes that Shibata may be unfit for trial. However, the assistant psychologist is convinced he’s faking the symptoms. A lead detective on the case also suspects that there is more to the situation than meets the eye.

Cast

Kyōka Suzuki – Kafuka Ogawa
Shinichi Tsutsumi – Masaki Shibata
- Tomonori Yoshida – Masaki Shibata (as a child)
Ittoku Kishibe – Inspector Nagoshi
Naoki Sugiura – Professor Saneyuki Fujishiro
Kirin Kiki – Defence Counsel Shigure Nagamura
Tōru Emori – Prosecutor Michihiko Kusama
Hideko Yoshida – Kafuka's Mother
Mirai Yamamoto – Mikako Kudo
- Mika Asai – Mikako Kudo (as a child)
Masanobu Katsumura – Sunaoka
Jun Kunimura – Shibata Toshimitsu
Yasuhito Ohchi – Keisuke Kudo (as a child)
Takashi Sasano – Tezuka
Takatoshi Takeda – Detective Nakamura
Masato Irie – Hatata Osamu
- Isamu Minami – Hatata Osamu (as a child)
Misayo Haruki – Hatata Kei
Daikichi Sugawara – Detective Tatebayashi
Ayako Yoshitani – Atsuko Kudo
Kazuyo Kawamura – Miyuki Kudo
Koji Sato – Iwaki Senjo
Hiroshi Isobe – Inuyama's Lawyer
Lucky Ikeda – Inuyama's Detective
Kumiko Tsuchiya – Nogami Yoriko
Tadao Tamura – Presiding Judge
Hirokazu Inoue – Muramatsu
Chosuke Ikariya – Patient
Toshie Kobayashi – Asylum Nurse
Ichiro Ohba
Yasushi Higuchi

Release

Keiho was theatrically released by Shochiku on February 17, 1999, in Japan. It was later released on VHS on April 21, 2000, and DVD on August 25, 2002 by Bandai Visual.