User Reviews

Good solid drugs and prostitution thriller set in old Yokohama. Complete with white trench coat, voiceovers and deep dark shadows this is Japan's answer to film noir and it fairy romps along with super cool jazz soundtrack. Bits of violence, bits of sex but generally a gutsy, moody, atmospheric tale with fine performances all round and lovely girls, in and almost out of costume. Fascinating to see the old city before the developments of recent years and at 80 minutes this doesn't let up and there are many fine moments including a fight atop a steam train, seemingly running through Yokohama and a bust up in what looked like a marionette warehouse. The extending opening sequence is particularly effective with street fortune teller and meeting in cramped room light by passing trains and culminating in naked death. Well worth seeking out, as I'm sure would be others in the series.

"Kurosen Chitai" is as close to watching a bona-fide film-noir coming from Japan, outside the films of Seijun Suzuki, one can possibly get. The opening 15 minutes that see a man chasing a woman through the crowded streets of Shinjuku, lose her, have a discussion with a fortune teller as to the woman's whereabouts, then be escorted to a room where he is drugged only to wake up next to her dead body, is the stuff film-noir dreams are made of. It's only tainted by a redundant voice-over that brings nothing we couldn't logically deduct to the table. A staple of the genre and one that hasn't aged as well as the visual appeal of it.

Speaking of which, Kurosen Chitai is shot in crisp black and white, and while the focus is on getting the movie in the can, Teruo Ishii finds time for some beautiful compositions and interesting staging. Consistent use of low-angles and very tight close-ups in the confrontation between our hero and Sabu, the local pimp lord. The rest of the plot is as convoluted as one might expect. The "hero" turns out to be a magazine reporter investigating the local prostitution ring called Black Line, which the girl he was following in the beginning was part of. Drugs, hit men, prostitutes, murder are all part of the plot. Not as violent or sleazy as the early 70's yakuza pictures or as Teruo Ishii's later career might suggest, but still a solid piece of entertainment.