「例えばここに1万円の椅子と 100万円の椅子があったとして。あなたはどちらに座りますか。」
[For example, imagine there is a chair that costs 10,000 yen and a chair that costs 1 million yen. Which one would you sit on?]

Shinsuke Kujo (Ichinose Ryu), a chair craftsman, posts a job advertisement on social media and proceeds to murder the applicants who come for interviews. Later, he meets Natsuko Kato (Oshima Ryoka), a skilled buyer, and the two gradually grow closer. Shinsuke believes that “a proper framework must be built. “He kills a delivery man to collect his bones, and then murders another woman to harvest her skin. Natsuko has high hopes for Shinsuke, but her colleague, Masaki, tells her that Shinsuke’s chairs are imitations of foreign designs. What is Shinsuke’s true purpose in collecting human “parts”?To uncover the truth, Natsuko and Masaki visit Shinsuke’s studio. There, a shocking truth is revealed — along with the fate of Shinsuke’s “ultimate creation.”

With Incomplete Chairs, Kenichi Ugana offers a bloody and violent satire of the neuroses of our current consumer societies and the violence committed against subordinates.

Very violent

The first observation is that Incomplete Chairs is very violent. However, there is no excessive, overly graphic violence. A few effective scenes showing flesh being cut are enough to set the tone. The other scenes of violence are mostly created with sounds and large amounts of blood splattering. 

But this is not a film to show to just anyone, because the basic theme is extremely violent and we remain in a psychotic universe where we follow a serial killer in the vein of Ed Gein. A man who kills people to keep certain pieces to build something. And it is frankly successful. We are easily drawn in and quickly forget incongruities such as: but don’t the neighbors hear the victims’ screams?

Warm and Cold

Ugana plays well with the visual composition to make it an equivalent of his characters. When we are in Kujo’s apartment, the image is cold, in shades of blue, giving an effect of distance and emotional coldness. 

On the other side, when we leave the apartment and Kujo opens up to other characters, such as Natsuko Kato, the image shifts to warmer, orangey tones, allowing the viewer to relax and imagine that this man might soften. 

These changes are truly important for the film’s success because they allow the viewer’s emotions and feelings to vary. Otherwise, we would simply despise the main character and the film would lose its appeal.

A little more…

Without being a film that will mark the history of cinema, Incomplete Chairs remains an entertaining and original film. The characters are just realistic enough to engage us and just twisted enough so that it doesn’t become ridiculous. 

The Japanese director once again offers one of the most exhilarating films of the festival. 

Incomplete Chairs is presented at the FNC on October 15 and 16, 2025.

Trailer