Trailer - BOX: The Hakamada Case (Box: Hakamada Jiken)

Here’s the trailer for Banmei Takahashi’s BOX: The Hakamada Case, not to be confused with Toshio Lee’s Box!, which is coming out around the same time.

The film is based on a notorious real-life crime which took place in Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture and became known as the “Hakamada Incident”. On June 30, 1966, a miso factory is set on fire after the director of the company and three of his family members are stabbed to death in the building. Detective Tatematsu (Ryo Ishibashi) eventually arrests ex-boxer Iwao Hakamada (Hirofumi Arai) for the crime based on some blood-stained clothing and a small cut on his finger. He initially claims innocence, but is forced into confession after being beaten by police and tortured for hours at a time.

Hakamada received a death sentence from Shizuoka District Court Judge Kumamoto (Masato Hagiwara) and lost several appeals in the decades that followed. Kumamoto, now a lawyer, has since admitted that he didn’t feel Hakamada was guilty during the trial.

“Box: Hakamada Jiken” will be released at Shibuya Euro Space and Ginza Cine Pathos in late May.

Sources: YouTube, Yahoo! Eiga, Ring Japan