Stakeout

In the organizer's words:

張込み Harikomi

Director: NOMURA Yoshitarô
1958, 116 minutes, OmeU, b/w, 16 mm

This thrilling crime film is based on the short story of the same name by writer Matsumoto Seichô (1909-1992).

Two detectives are sent from Tokyo to Kyûshû in southern Japan to find the murderer of a pawnbroker. The alleged perpetrator had a girlfriend in Saga. Although she is now married to a banker, the detectives believe that he will try to see her again and rent a room in a guesthouse opposite her house. A long, hot, frustrating wait ensues, but after a dramatic chase across the country, they finally track down the suspect.

The former girlfriend, who knows nothing of her ex's crime, falls in love with him again when they meet again and promises to follow him wherever he goes. But their happiness is short-lived.

Movie series
In search of criminals and new images - Japanese films from the 1960s

In the 1960s and 1970s, Japan was in a phase of economic, political and social upheaval, which also had a serious impact on the country's film industry. As a counter-movement to the films of the previously established master directors, works emerged that were in part radically new in their themes and aesthetics and moved beyond the existing pigeonholes.

With seven films made between 1958 and 1968, the series provides an insight into the cinema of the 1960s and presents works by five directors who were among the most important representatives of their time: Imamura Shôhei (1926-2006), Nomura Yoshitarô (1919-2005), Shindô Kaneto (1912-2012), Shinoda Masahiro (*1931) and Suzuki Seijun (1923-2017).

Three Nikkatsu action films by Suzuki Seijun, who is considered an experimental visionary in Japanese film history, can be seen. In his first color film, Imamura Shôhei dissects the archaic relationships of a village community marked by incest. Shindô Kaneto is represented with his impressive global success about the adversities of life. Finally, the crime film by Nomura Yoshitarô shows the dramatic chase after a murderer and with his film noir, Shinoda Masahiro has left a lasting mark on the yakuza thriller genre.

Price information:

Admission free