If you loved “John Wick” and can’t get enough of sword-wielding duels, buckle up until February 2027 for “Karōshi.”
Produced by Chad Stahelski (John Wick franchise) and written and directed by Takashi Doscher, Karōshi is an action thriller set in a near-future but dystopian Manhattan. The megalomaniacal New York portrayed in Karōshi is a place where corporate loyalty and cultural tradition have reshaped everyday life.
According to the film’s synopsis, “a mysterious outsider, played by Teo Yoo (Past Lives), infiltrates a powerful company after a worker’s death; he exposes the violent system hidden beneath its polished surface.”
And so many gallons of blood get spilled all over that surface. Clean up on Aisle 10!
If that head-spinning (and sometimes, decapitating) action looks familiar, it should. The very same team that envisioned all of John Wick’s duels, 87Eleven Entertainment, plies their trade in Karōshi.
Does Working Too Hard Really Result in Karōshi Samurai?
It’s not quite like that. As the trailer entails, “Karōshi” (過労死) translates to ‘death from overwork.’
The company’s name makes the title even nastier. Ikigai can mean something worth living for. In the trailer, Vincent Ogawa praises his employees’ commitment and sacrifice. Put that speech next to a title that means “death from overwork,” and suddenly you want to read the employee handbook very carefully.
That’s what makes the Manhattan setting work. You don’t need to know a thing about samurai to recognize a boss who talks about sacrifice and expects somebody else to make it. The swords are just new.
In Japan, the term came into use in the late 20th century to describe deaths connected to excessive work and sustained job-related stress. These include fatal illnesses such as heart attacks and strokes, as well as suicides linked to severe psychological distress caused by work—a phenomenon known as karōjisatsu.
And now, it’s a high-octane movie trapped in a “Blade Runner” experience that collided smack dab into “Shogun” at top speed. Before you second-guess yourself, yes, Ikigai’s CEO speaking at the beginning of the movie is indeed Vincent Ogawa (Takehiro Hira from “Shogun”).
If you liked that trailer, imagine what a red band would look like. This swashbuckling Samurai film is beginning to make John Wick look tame. From what the synopsis and trailer suggest, we see the aforementioned outsider take on this mammoth conglomerate (that’s Ikigai) after an employee’s suspicious death, which we can only imagine is a case of Karōshi. (Sleuth skills, I tell you what!)
It appears that climbing the corporate ladder can be fatal—and HR probably won’t be much help.
The Wick comparison goes deeper than the fight choreography. Half the fun of the Continental was realizing how much trouble a man could get into for breaking a house rule. “Karōshi” takes that same pleasure in rules, rituals and consequences and puts it in a place most of us already know: the office. I want to see how long this company can keep calling itself a family once somebody asks what happened to one of its own.
With Stahelski producing, Karōshi promises corporate intrigue with considerably more punch than a tense board meeting. Beneath the action, though, lies a sobering reality: the devastating consequences of overwork in Japanese society.
Directed and written by Takashi Doscher, whose released feature is the dystopian thriller “Only” (2020, also released as “Only: Last Woman on Earth”), the film stars an international ensemble including:
- Teo Yoo (Past Lives),
- Isabel May (Scream 7),
- Takehiro Hira (“Shōgun”),
- Bill Camp (“Presumed Innocent”),
- Show Kasamatsu (“Tokyo Vice”),
- Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad”),
- Cynthia Erivo (Wicked).
- Also produced by Jason Spitz, Alex Young, and Nathan Kahane.
‘Karōshi’ opens in U.S. theaters Feb. 5, 2027.
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