In the end, this film does not sit on the fence; there is no Rashomon-style mystery about where the truth lies. Yet Miike’s own creative energies are galvanised.

The movie’s engrossing visual and tonal language is all about seeding doubt, a promise on which Miike over-delivers, resulting in a tale that remains in morally gray territory long after it means to.

Sham is primarily concerned with individual experience at odds with dominant narratives, and whether knowing one’s own reality can ever be solace enough if everyone else considers it fiction.

Miike uses his considerable talents to manipulate the viewer with this true-crime (if that's even the right phrase) melodrama, but dammit, he got me.