VIFF audiences were the first in the world outside Japan to discover that Yamashita Nobuhiro is a major indie talent; his debut feature Hazy Life played in our competition back in 1999. Last year’s Linda Linda Linda found him edging into the big time, and The Matsugane Potshot Affair finds him expertly parlaying his indie sensibility into mainstream entertainment terms. This wonderful black comedy is one of the best Japanese movies of the past year.

The peace of Matsugane, a (fictitious) mountain town, is shattered by the arrival of the no-good Nishioka and his slovenly girlfriend Miyuki, lured by the rumour of a bag of gold bullion sunk in a frozen lake. They blackmail poultry farmer Hikari into providing them with a place to stay, and come to the attention of his twin (but utterly dissimilar) brother Kotaro, the local cop. Kotaro has problems of his own, what with his senile granddad, his womanizing dad and his unhappy mum, but the arrival of Serious Crime in the community presents a whole new challenge. Yamashita creates a range of deliciously eccentric characters and an intricate plot which brilliantly dovetails several strands, all of them spiked with his idiosyncratic humour. The title, incidentally, is explained only in the very last shot.

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