The members of SMAP, the five-man mega-group that disbanded in December 2016, had their share of hit films, though their central field of operation was always television. Now three of them — Goro Inagaki, Shingo Katori and Tsuyoshi Kusanagi — star in a four-part omnibus film with a limited release, a project unthinkable when Johnny & Associates, the talent agency that made SMAP the biggest boy band in Japanese pop music history, was managing their careers.

Titled "The Bastard and the Beautiful World," the film is not a desperate ploy by the three stars to stay relevant. Instead it's conceived as a showcase for their individual talents, with international cult favorite Sion Sono directing the first segment. Veteran theater director Kenji Yamauchi, comic Hikari Ota (Bakusho Mondai) and music video director Yuichi Kodama handle the other three.

Inevitably, this package targets core SMAP fans, but it is not the sort of formulaic exercise the three leads were once churning out. Though their roles — Inagaki as a pianist, Katori as an artist and Kusanagi as a gangster — don't require them to overly stretch as actors, they do release them from the burden of being SMAP, that is, eternally youthful pop stars. They relax and enjoy themselves while playing characters close to their actual 40-plus ages. Call it a collective cry of freedom and sigh of relief.