Yokohama BJ burûsu

Yokohama BJ Blues was a film unknown to me until Radiance brought it out on disc last year. When the film showed up on Tubi recently, I decided to try before I bought. This was a wise move.

What interested me about the film was the way it has been compared to a 1970's neo noir, like Long Goodbye or Night Moves. Since I tend to like that genre, I expected to like Yokohama BJ Blues, yet the end result was mixed.

The plot has private eye and sometimes blues singer B. J. (Yusaku Matsuda) investigating the murder of his childhood best friend, a police inspector being forced out of the department. The police inspector's partner blames B. J. Meanwhile, B. J. is conflicted because he lost the love of his wife to his friend years ago.

B. J.'s journey takes him into the underworld and a possible big time drug deal. However, the reason for the hit may be more personal than professional.

Yokohama BJ Blues creates a decent mood, but it falters with its pace and its mystery. The film is trying to be deliberate in pacing, yet I found it slower than needed (admittedly, the commercials on Tubi did not help).

An even bigger problem is that I could not follow the plot at the end. I got the main points, but how they all held together is as much a mystery to me now as when I started the film. I am not certain whether it was a language problem or, as I suspect, a case of the filmmakers thinking certain plot points were clearer than they really were.

I understand that few find the summing up scenes in old time mysteries, where the investigator explains who did what and how and why, thrilling viewing. However, a mystery must have enough exposition for the viewer to understand how the mystery holds together. I did not think there was enough here.

Finally, a more personal complaint is that I had just a couple weeks earlier watched Yusaku Matsuda in the Dangerous Game Trilogy. While B. J. is a different character than the one in the trilogy, he seems to share that character's indestructibility.

I really wanted to like Yokohama BJ Blues, but the film ended up frustrating me. It is well made, and the Japanese blues music makes for an enjoyable listen, yet the film's weaknesses are what I find myself reflecting on days later.

What a delightful and quirky little film this is. A very unusual Japanese one, although there is mention of the 'The Family' and yakuza but this man, the rather good actor, is Yusaku Matsuda and in this one a blues singer called BJ. When this film was made we could see where the massive docks and train tracks were beginning pulled down turned into the new. But there still is the old town, the other side of the tracks and that is where this is set, especially in the dark, at night and the cinematography amazingly almost poetic. Much like a noir and we see BJ as a loner, walking around and singing in cellar bars but getting involved with the corruption and drug trafficking and the underground gay and seedy biker underbelly. There is something of the wit and melancholy of Robert Altman's, The Long Goodbye, although there are no cats here but instead splendid jazzy, blues.

Blue is very much the colour in Eiichi Kudo's "Yokohama BJ Blues", a laidback story of a private detective-cum-blues singer among the grottier parts of Yokohama. But the blue tint throughout and soundtrack don't portray a sadness, but a cool given off by its star Yusaku Matsuda.

BJ meets with his old friend, now a detective, when they are ambushed; the detective left dead. His young partner believes BJ is responsible, interrogating and trailing him around the city. Meanwhile, BJ delves into the underworld of the city, looking to clear his name, as well as performing at the blues club and meet with his various girlfriends.

All around him is anger and chaos, but BJ barely flinches at anything, letting everyone else take care of themselves, leaving him to walk away from it all to the next song.

For this to work, it requires several things. Alongside the blue tint throughout, Seizo Sengen's cinematography has a mix of distance shots and cropped close-ups, giving both a mix of Yokohama's urban, port city sprawl and the unmoved expressions of BJ, making this the portrait of a man in the city.

The Blue Note aesthetic needs a decent soundtrack to go with it, which this has, with Matsuda having the right look and delivery for the part. Indeed, this is very much a Matsuda piece, bouncing around the city with a nonchalant swagger, unphased by anything put in his way. Whether arriving at a girlfriend's apartment and finding her in bed with another man, but still needing his nap time; or being shot at.

This is, therefore, a little surface-level, all about the look and style, but makes for an entertaining and enjoyable watch. Indeed, you'd happily watch BJ in another scenario as a recurring character in a series of films, though maybe not quite to Tora-san levels.

For an aesthetically-driven film, there are a number of obvious downfalls. The plot isn't particularly groundbreaking, and BJ is somewhat bulletproof in the face of danger. Some scenes also feel a little throw-in for the sake of it; and there is a somewhat out-of-place playful scene that is obscure more than anything.

This is a lovely dollop of Seventies to Eighties cool coming out of the grot and the grime. It looks the part, sounds the part, with the right lighting to get you through an early hours viewing.

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