Penalty Loop

‘Good morning. Monday, the 6th of June. Clear sky. The flower of the day is the iris. It's a symbol of hope.’ This is how Jun's day begins every morning when the radio alarm sounds. With some difficulty, he gets out of bed and finds himself in a flat that seems strangely foreign to him, but in which he finds his way around surprisingly well. Intuitively, he grabs his work clothes and a sports bag, gets into his car and drives to a large greenhouse. He begins his work routinely until he soon encounters a silent stranger, whom he kills just as routinely. Again and again, as Jun is caught in an endless loop of revenge. He is condemned to avenge the unpunished murder of his girlfriend and bring the perpetrator, who is still on the loose, to justice. The routine changes slightly from time to time, as the persecuted man also reacts to the previous versions of death. For Jun, the feeling of satisfaction or even relief never solidifies, because before he knows it, his alarm clock rings again: ‘Monday, 6th June. Clear skies...’.

His debut film The Town of Headcounts also made it into the Japannual programme in 2021. With his time loop thriller Penalty Loop, director Shinji ARAKI once again proves himself a specialist for dense thriller atmosphere. The recurring angel of the throat is played by Ryūya WAKABA, who was in Rikiya Imaizumi By The Window last year (Japannual 2023) and also likes to appear in the director's other films (5 in total). His counterpart Yūsuke ISEYA has already shot for Kore-eda, Miike, Sion Sono and Sogo Ishii. At Japannual, however, he is best remembered from Fly Me To The Saitama (2019). Penalty Loop won an Audience Award at the big Fantasia Filmfest in Montreal.