Yellow Line (黄線地帯) (Japan, 1960) [DVD] - 3.5/5
A very enjoyable Shin Toho noir by Teruo Ishii. There's a terrific opening with hitman Shigeru Amachi accepting an assignment and then walking into the Tokyo night. During his getaway he kidnaps a lady (Yoko Mihara) whose boyfriend (Teruo Yoshida) then tails them to Kobe where they stay in a rundown hotel in a red light district. There's a great momentum through most of the film (minus the 2nd quarter), especially towards the ultra intense climax, as well as moody sets and fascinating location work capturing the atmosphere of small alleys populated by hookers, drunks and drug dealers. One sexy night club scene especially is pure Ishii. Amachi is terrific as the hitman, a crook living by his own code of honour and humanity. There is the kind of distinctly old fashioned, gritty yet relative (only as far as “cool†allows) realism to the character that reminds of Humphrey Bogart and what you don't really find in modern cinema. In contract, Mihara is written against typical gender roles as a woman who is neither a helpless victim nor a fighting Amazon. On the minus side we are served the worst black face job you'll ever see, on what appears to be a Caucasian blonde actress from her looks. This was Part 3 in the Line series, the only one in colour.
A very enjoyable Shin Toho noir by Teruo Ishii. There's a terrific opening with hitman Shigeru Amachi accepting an assignment and then walking into the Tokyo night. During his getaway he kidnaps a lady (Yoko Mihara) whose boyfriend (Teruo Yoshida) then tails them to Kobe where they stay in a rundown hotel in a red light district. There's a great momentum through most of the film (minus the 2nd quarter), especially towards the ultra intense climax, as well as moody sets and fascinating location work capturing the atmosphere of small alleys populated by hookers, drunks and drug dealers. One sexy night club scene especially is pure Ishii. Amachi is terrific as the hitman, a crook living by his own code of honour and humanity. There is the kind of distinctly old fashioned, gritty yet relative (only as far as “cool†allows) realism to the character that reminds of Humphrey Bogart and what you don't really find in modern cinema. In contract, Mihara is written against typical gender roles as a woman who is neither a helpless victim nor a fighting Amazon. On the minus side we are served the worst black face job you'll ever see, on what appears to be a Caucasian blonde actress from her looks. This was Part 3 in the Line series, the only one in colour.
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