A Japanese noir movie with a weirdly circular plot. The movie starts and ends in black and white, while the rest of the movie is in full color. A stylistic choice to highlight something relevant to the femme fatale, that ultimately is actually irrelevant. Directed by Seijun Suzuki this is one of two films of his that I’ll check out on Criterion Collection.
My complaints are mostly based around the eclectic characters, they’re basically manga tropes. Our hero is a revenge fueled everyday man, he reports to an evil petite Yakuza boss and befriends a dumbo — then, he encounters the boss’s brother who’s homosexual (surprising in 1963) and runs a callgirl business with … spoilers.
It’s just completely absurd in a 1960s way (think James Bond, Westerns), and these are EARLY manga tropes not modern ones, so it’s hard to relate.
First screened April 23, 2024 on Criterion Collection.
