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Suspect X

Original Title

容疑者Xの献身
Y?gisha X no kenshin

INTRODUCTION

Suspect X, represents the much"anticipated, feature film adaptation of the 134th Naoki Prize winning novel by the same name, written by the undisputed king of the Japanese mystery writing world, Keigo Higashino. Suspect X is in fact a compilation of Higashino's famous “Detective Galileo"series, which in aggregate has sold over 3.2 million copies to date. The remarkable deductive abilities of its protagonist, physicist Manabu Yukawa, together with gripping human drama and a heart"rending closing scene transcended the mystery fan base to captivate all varieties of readers nationwide. After winning every major mystery award in Japan, the Galileo series was quickly turned into a widely"watched television drama that aired in the 9 p.m. Monday night slot on the Fuji Television Network from October 2007. Starring popular singer"actor, Masaharu Fukuyama in the lead role of “Detective Galileo"and Kou Shibasaki as the plucky female detective, Kaoru Utsumi who brings him all his cases, the series averaged viewer ratings of 22.2% and has been feted as having introduced a new feel and rhythm to the televised serial drama thanks to its strong casting and liberal use of popular music. The feature film version brings together the same principal cast from the series as well as the talented creative duo of director, Hiroshi Nishitani (“Star Reformer"'06, “Spiral"TV serial, '99), and screenwriter, Yasushi Fukuda (“HERO"'07, “Umizaru: Test of Trust"'06, “Umizaru"'04). Moving from award"winning novel to TV series and now to feature film, “Suspect X"project at last arrives on the big screen this fall, where a mesmerizing battle of wits by incredible minds will play itself out against a poignant and moving narrative.

STORY

The body of a male has been discovered, strangled to death, his face pulverized beyond recognition and fingers burned to a crisp. Assigned to the case are local precinct detective, Kaoru Utsumi, and her ex"colleague from headquarters, Shunpei Kusanagi. It turns out that the neighbor of the victim's ex"wife is a college alumnus of brilliant physicist, Manabu Yukawa, aka “Detective Galileo."He is Tetsuya Ishigami, a high school math teacher whom Yukawa personally considers a true genius. When Yukawa is brought onto help with the case by Utsumi, he begins to suspect that this “true genius"and a with whom Yukawa shares a bond of friendship as an intellectual equal is somehow connected to the murder. Elaborate bluffs, false testimonials, loopholes in logic − all begin to appear in Detective Galileo's way as if intentionally placed as a challenge by someone with mathematical brilliance.