You can tell a film with a title like “Why Wait, Just Die” isn’t going to be an easy ride. Junichi Kanai’s adaptation of a 2010 novel by Natsuhiko Kyogoku is a needling and ticklish drama designed to get stuck in your teeth, although it’s not quite as nihilistic as its moniker might suggest.

The film plays as a murder mystery, albeit a deeply unconventional one. Asami Kashima, an office temp worker, has been found dead on a rooftop, presumably strangled. The police have identified several potential suspects, including a stalker and the married boss with whom the victim was having an affair, but after three months they’ve yet to make an arrest.

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