Anymart

Aanymart

Anymart

A convenience store job turns into a bloody nightmare

An overnight convenience store clerk begins to question the rules imposed by his father, and his monotonous routine spirals into a bloody nightmare. A Japanese thriller laced with dark comedy, in which workplace frustration takes on gruesome forms.

Sakai is a young Japanese man who feels as though his life ended before it even had a chance to begin. He is a low-level manager at his father’s convenience store, while his mother is a gambler. Every day looks exactly like the one before. He deals with grumpy customers, makes meaningless small talk with his coworkers, and goes on dates that lead nowhere. The rigid rules imposed by his father have become part of his everyday life. It is only when a new employee joins the store that Sakai begins to question the point of those rules. But is it already too late?

“Anymart” is a Japanese blend of thriller, social drama, and black comedy, a film that manages to be both unsettling and genuinely funny. It is a deeply humanistic film, steeped in grotesque imagery, but every bit of it feels necessary and fully justified. Beneath the layers of absurd humor and grotesquerie, “Anymart” hides something desperate and deeply painful. The film was already warmly received at this year’s Berlinale, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize in the Forum section.

Yusuke Iwasaki’s feature debut taps into some of the audience’s most personal fears and frustrations. Iwasaki has created a story about capitalism devouring its own children, while exhausted corporate workers return home from work and eat instant meals simply to summon enough strength to make it through another day.