‘#Viral’: A Faustian tale about internet fame and anti-vax anxiety

Films trying to capture the fractious, chronically online nature of modern life are inevitably playing catch-up, but they don’t help themselves by adding a hashtag — that musty relic of 2010s social media — to their titles. Arriving in the wake of Daisuke Miyazaki’s “#Mito” and Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s “#Manhole” (both 2023), King Bai’s “#Viral” is another Faustian tale of internet fame that feels like its moment has already passed.

There’s still something admirable about Bai’s willingness to take risks, not least in his depiction of the anti-vaccine movement that flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first-time feature director — who produced Shusuke Kaneko’s twisted crime drama, “Gold Boy” (2024) — has a good nose for provocative subject matter, even if his handling isn’t quite so assured.

Takehiko Minato’s screenplay (based on an original idea by Bai) doesn’t waste much time on exposition. Protagonist Shinji (Ryo Narita) is a scruffy care worker living with his more glamorous wife, Aki (Kasumi Yamaya), in rural Toyama Prefecture. When she suddenly drops dead from a heart attack the day after receiving a routine COVID-19 jab, he immediately suspects the vaccine is to blame.