錆びたナイフ The Rusty Knife
1958
Director: Toshio Masuda
This is an old noir film, one of the thousands of old Japanese gangster films from back in the days. They really don't make it like this anymore. However, I didn't really enjoy this one too much. The first 15 minutes went by real fast with tons of information, and the main character doesn't even appear until 20 minutes into the film, which just adds to the confusion. The movie does settle down towards the middle and the main character really carries this film well. Yujiro Ishihara is a pretty commanding actor, even though he doesn't have any distinct features. The movie is at its best when its slowed down, examining the characters and the pressure they're under. I thought the story was quite refreshing, but it's a shame they never really "focused" on the story but instead just tried some of the old plot twist devices that we've a million times....I guess being in 1958 it was okay. Well, the villain was straight up lame, you could see it a mile away. Anyways, there were some gorgeous shots of 1950s Japan, the trains, the cinematography never gets old. It's quite an average film though....