On a remote island struggling to survive, a mysterious stranger dies in a freak accident. Three childhood friends attempt to hide the body to preserve the island’s image. They must decide how far they are willing to go. A film by Ryuichi Hiroki, starring Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kenichi Matsuyama, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Haru Kuroki, and Masatoshi Nagase.

A live-action film adaptation of the Japanese serial manga イズ【noise】 by Tetsuya Tsutsui 筒井哲也, which was published in GRANDJUMP (グランドジャンプ) magazine from 2018 to 2020 and later collected into three volumes.

Keita Izumi (泉圭太 portrayed by Tatsuya Fujiwara / 藤原竜也), Jun Tanabe (田辺純 portrayed by Kenichi Matsuyama / 松山ケンイチ), Shinichiro Moriya (守屋真一郎 portrayed by Ryunosuke Kamiki / 神木隆之介), and Kana Izumi (泉加奈 portrayed by Haru Kuroki / 黒木華) have been lifelong friends, having grown up together in a town on Shishikari Island.

Keita, Jun, and Kana lost their parents in a ferry accident over a decade ago and were raised by the townspeople of Shishikari Island. Keita now owns a farm where he grows unique black figs. He is married to Kana, and they have a daughter named Erina (恵里奈 portrayed by Rio Iijima / 飯島莉央). Keita hires Jun to help him on the farm, while Shinichiro has recently become the island’s only police officer after the previous one retired.

Hanae Shoji (庄司華江 portrayed by Kimiko Yo / 余貴美子), the town’s mayor, envisions a plan to revitalize Shishikari Island’s economy by leveraging Keita’s unique black figs as a new tourist attraction. This plan would allow her to apply for a 500 million yen city development grant from the Japanese government. The townspeople admire and see Keita as a hero, a beacon of hope who is saving their town from its long economic struggles.

One afternoon, Keita realizes that his daughter, Erina, has disappeared from the backyard. He finds a water bottle that he recognizes as belonging to a stranger who arrived on the island that day. This evidence leads Keita to believe that Erina has been kidnapped by the stranger.

Keita encounters the stranger lurking suspiciously inside his greenhouse. He threatens the stranger to release his daughter, but before he can act, Shinichiro and Jun arrive at the farm with a rifle. A physical altercation ensues as the stranger attempts to seize the rifle. In the chaos, Keita is bitten by the stranger, but he manages to push him back. Tragically, the stranger slips and hits his head on a concrete block, resulting in his instant death.

Still reeling from the shock of the stranger’s death, the three friends must decide on a course of action. Jun suggests they go to the police and claim self-defense. But Keita is now a town hero, and his arrest for murder would tarnish the town’s reputation beyond repair. After careful deliberation, they agree to Shinichiro’s plan of temporarily hiding the body until they can find a suitable time to bury it.

The arrival of Detective Tsutomu Hatakeyama (畠山努 portrayed by 永瀬正敏 / Masatoshi Nagase) and his partner, Chihiro Aoki ( 木千尋 portrayed by Ayumi Ito / 伊藤歩), escalates the situation. They are searching for Kenji Suzuki (鈴木賢治 portrayed by Taro Suwa / 諏訪太朗), a parole officer who disappeared after traveling to the island with Mutsuo Komisaka (小御坂睦雄 portrayed by Daichi Watanabe / 渡辺大知), a former rape convict.

The discovery of Kenji’s strangled body in a car complicates matters for the three friends, as Mutsuo, the dead man they hid, appears to be the prime suspect. The police have reason to believe that Mutsuo is on the run and hiding somewhere on the island, prompting the mainland police to dispatch a search team to sweep the entire area, making it nearly impossible for the three friends to bury the body as planned. The townspeople, resentful of the mainland police prying into their homes, reluctantly cooperate with the search.

Word of the hidden body begins to spread throughout the town, reaching the ears of the mayor herself. Desperate to protect the town’s reputation and secure the government grant money, she concocts a devious scheme, proposing that one of the three friends should take the fall.

Unlike traditional detective stories, which begin with the discovery of a victim, this film begins with the death of a former murderer, subverting the audience’s expectations. Despite the lack of a traditional villain, the filmmaker masterfully crafts a suspenseful narrative, keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat as they root for three seemingly innocent people who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their desperate attempts to conceal the truth create a ripple effect throughout the town, forcing them to confront the moral implications of their actions.

The screenplay, brimming with unexpected twists and turns, at times veers into hilarious territory, showcasing the exaggerated behaviors characteristic of Japanese manga.

One aspect of the film that I found less effective was the overuse of flashbacks to the same event, with the filmmaker deliberately omitting crucial information that is only revealed in the final moments. This technique can be effective in building suspense, but in this case, it felt repetitive and unnecessary. Additionally, the film could have been trimmed by a few minutes, as there were a few dragging moments, especially considering its relatively short runtime of 123 minutes.

ノイズ【noise】was theatrically released in Japan on 28 January 2022.