INFLUENCE

In high school, Yuri Totsuka (Kanna Hashimoto) was just another teenage girl. Experiencing all the ups and downs that come with high school, Yuri’s struggles weren’t any different than every other girl her age. Living on her own, in a quiet apartment complex in a peaceful province, Yuri should have had a largely uneventful teenage life. But one terrifying event would change not only her life, but the lives of two of her classmates, forever. Once a friend of Yuri’s, Satoko Hino (Ai Yoshikawa) had given up on their friendship after the two had a falling out. Now more a stranger than a friend, Satoko suffers through her miserable life alone. Alongside her, transfer student Maho Sakazaki (Wakana Aoi) seems doomed to spend her high school years as a loner; but living in the same apartment complex as Yuri, the two soon become close friends. With a new friend by her side, Yuri might have forgotten all about Satoko, had Fate not decided to intervene in a truly cruel and horrifying way. When Maho is attacked by a violent assailant, Yuri steps in, desperate to save her friend; but her frantic attempt to help ends in murder. Only adding to the horror of it all, Satoko is arrested the very next day. Now caught in a tangled web of lies and murders, the three girls desperately search for a way out. But is escape even an option when you’re in this deep?  Adapted from the novel of the same name by Fumie Kondo, “INFLUENCE” is a 2021 suspense drama directed by Naruhide Mizuta and Paul Young.