Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture ? a port town surrounded by ocean on the tip of Honshu island. Gu is born in Japan of Korean ancestry and living life as a high school dropout working part time jobs. Gu constantly gets caught up in trouble on the streets of Shimonoseki. One day, Gu hears that his ex-high school juniors Tatsu and Masaru led a raid on the house of rival Kim Chong-jin. However, Kim wasn’t home and they ended up beating his grandmother to death and torching the house. Masaru escapes but Tatsu is hauled in by the police. Gu wanders the street looking for the truth behind the attack but wherever he goes he ends up ensnarled in violence. [Hard Romanticker] is the film with international appeal, featuring some of Japan’s most brilliant actors, especially Shota Matsuda who played the compelling character of Gu. Hard Romanticker is violent, shocking, and subtle. It is Japan’s answer to Stanley Kubrick’s [A Clockwork Orange].