vt The Detective is in the Bar; vt Phone Call to the Bar
Japan / 126 minutes / color / Toei Dir: Hajime Hashimoto Pr: Yasushi Suto Scr: Yasushi Suto, Ryota Kosawa Story: Bar ni Kakatte Kita Denwa (1996) by Naomi Azuma Cine: Kazunari Tanaka Cast: Yo Oizumi, Ryuhei Matsuda, Koyuki, Toshiyuki Nishida, Masanobu Takashima, Tomorowo Taguchi, Ikuji Nakamura, Yoshiki Arizono, Yutaka Matsushige, Yasukaze Motomiya, Renji Ishibashi, Kazuki Namioka, Keiko Takeshita, Shin’ichi Miyazaki, Mayumi Shintani.
A young, unorthodox PI (Oizumi), known here only as The Detective, operates out of a basement bar in Sapporo, in the Susukino region of Hokkaido Japan: the Keller Ohata Bar, which seems never to have any customers except himself and his sidekick Takada (Matsuda), a near-narcoleptic university technician for the day job but a crack karate exponent when called for. Serving them is a genteel, smiling barman (Miyazaki).
The Detective (Yo Oizumi) preparing to boldly go.
One night, at a hotel rendezvous with closeted gay journalist Matsuo (Taguchi), for whom he has been retrieving some incriminating photographs, The Detective sets eyes on the businessman Toshio Kirishima (Nishida) and his beautiful, much younger and extremely charming wife Saori (Koyuki), who’ve been hosting a party in the same hotel. As the Kirishimas leave, later that evening, Saori goes back for something forgotten; walking to the car, Toshio sees a young woman being sexually assaulted, wades in against her attackers, and is beaten to death. By all accounts this gallantry was typical of him—he was that rarity: a kind, principled corporate head.
Saori (Koyuki) visits the kerbside memorial of her murdered husband Toshio.
The Detective barely hears about the murder, being up to his eyes in other cases—notably one for the elderly, quasi-retired gang boss Aida (Matsushige), who has hired him to keep an eye on his Continue reading
Noirish 