I Am Waiting (1957)

I Am Waiting (Ore wa matteru ze)
Directed by Koreyoshi Kurohara
Written by Shintarô Ishihara
1957/Japan
Nikkatsu
First viewing/Hulu

I’m a gangster, and gangsters don’t ask questions. Lil Wayne

This fairly stylish Japanese film noir is hampered by its slow pace.

Jôji Shimaki spots Saeko staring bleakly into the water.  She doesn’t respond to his questions but finally goes back to his restaurant with him.  We gradually find out their stories.

Jôji is an ex-boxer who killed a man in a bar brawl.  His last dream is to join his brother in Brazil where they are to acquire farm land but he has not received any response to his many letters.  Saeko believes she may have killed a man who tried to rape her.  She is a “canary that has forgotten how to sing”, having left her job at a nightclub owned by gangsters.  Jôji feeds and shelters Saeko and she falls in love with him.  He, however, is so obsessed with his brother’s disappearance that he cannot really reciprocate her affection.

The remainder of the film follows Jôji’s search for his brother.  Naturally, the thugs Saeko worked for are involved and he must have vengeance.

This was the very definition of “forgettable” for me.  It dragged to the point where I really did not care what happened.  There’s a lot of two-fisted action toward the end for those that like it.  The cinematography was the highlight of the film for me.