Ikari no machi

Ûkichi Uno and Yasumi Hara are returned soldiers going to school, on the surface anyway. They make money through confidence tricks on women. Uno writes the scripts, and the smooth Hara carries them out. Hara comes from decayed nobility. All they have left is the house. Grandmother thinks the money is from the job as a bus conductress that Hara's sister, Setsuko Wakayama, holds. Hara tells them his money comes from a job playing the piano in a band. However, as Hara grows bolder in his depredations, Uno, under the influence of Miss Wakayama, starts to regret their crimes.

Mikio Naruse's movie is well written and acted, and the focus on the leads' preying on women is within his wheelhouse, but the focus on the men who do it, and the issues of their redemption and damnation are not his usual themes. I found it interesting, but I am fascinated by confidence games. The result is a good movie, but not one of the director's best.

Many characters in Mikio Naruse's movies are consumed with money but I don't think any of them have gone to the lengths that the two lead characters here do. Jûkichi Uno and Yasumi Hara star as two veterans who are enrolled in college. To make ends meet they fleece pretty young women from the rising middle class. Less a crime story (although there is plenty of that) and more of a character study of two people who seem to have lost their moral bearings because of their experiences during the war. In fact, all of Tokyo seems to be suffering from the same dilemma, as the two lead characters, black marketers and drug dealers are contrasted with the honest and hard working poor who are reduced to long hours and menial work. Starker than many of Naruse's movies but not one without hope.

Jûkichi Uno (Mori) and Yasumi Hara (Shigetaka) are a couple of conmen who fleece women for money on the pretext of falling in love with them at dancehall locations. Uno writes the scripts for Haro to then put into practice on the dancefloor. The number one rule for Hara is that he must not fall in love and pursue any of the women from the dancehall.

They have a few tricks up their sleeve and the film has a good beginning at one of these dances. It introduces us to our two main characters at work and reveals that they are in cahoots. Hara has a sister - Setsuko Wakayama (Masako) - who suspects all is not right with her brother and friend and seeks to put things right by influencing Mori. Hara, on the other hand, is tempted by greed and aspirations of wealth, and wants to take things to the next level of criminality.

The film has interest whilst you watch but I don't like the ending. It's downbeat and involves someone getting slashed in the face! No thank you - not for me! Lose a couple of marks. The women are difficult to distinguish between one another as they look the same so there can be some character confusion. The best female character and the best character in the film is the knowing gangster Yuriko Hamada (Tagami) who Hara meets at one of these dances and gets out of his depth with. She acts just as you would expect a seasoned criminal to act and she sees through Hara and his game, even turning the tables on him by using him - ha ha. It's good karma for him.

The film is not bad but any kind of slashing in the face is a big "NO" for me. So, I won't be watching it again.