My Friend "A" (2018)

My Friend “A” is the kind of thriller that tightens its grip not with flashy twists, but with the creeping dread of watching obsession take root in an ordinary life. Takahisa Zeze stages the story like a moral trap: as Masuda (a terrific Toma Ikuta) convinces himself he’s found a monster in his quiet co-worker, the film keeps asking how far you’d go for the truth—and what you’re willing to ignore to feel right. Eita Nagayama brings an unnerving stillness to Suzuki, turning every casual conversation into a small interrogation, while the crime-mystery elements simmer in the background like a headline waiting to break. It’s a tense, psychologically shaded ride that rewards patience more than adrenaline, so if you prefer clean heroes and easy answers, this one may feel deliberately unsettling—but that’s exactly why it lingers.

My Friend “A” wants to be a tense, morally messy cat-and-mouse thriller about obsession—how far a would-be journalist will go when he convinces himself he’s found a killer hiding in plain sight. The setup is strong and the performances (especially the uneasy push-pull between Ikuta and Nagayama) do a lot of heavy lifting, but the movie can feel more like a slow-burn suspicion spiral than a punchy mystery, with pacing that tests patience and revelations that may not land as sharply as you’d hope. If you’re expecting a tightly plotted crime procedural with clean clues and big twists, this might frustrate you; it’s more interested in paranoia, ambiguity, and the ugliness of certainty. Stick with it if you like psychological tension and character-driven dread, but skip it if you need fast momentum and clear answers.