Blood Is Dry

Yoshida's second Shochiku assignment turned away from the studio's dominant focus on troubled youth and generational conflict in order to paint a darker and more despairing portrait of society in a state of moral collapse. Taking sharp aim at Japan's harshly competitive corporate culture, Blood Thirsty follows a hapless salaryman whose desperate gesture to prevent the mass layoff of his colleagues is ruthlessly and absurdly exploited by his company for a deeply ironic advertising campaign. (sfs)