Le Détroit de la faim

A Fugitive from the Past thankfully earns its runtime, even if the plot never gets too crazily complex. It's suitably epic and has enough going on to run for as long as it does, using that extra time to - on at least a couple of occasions - lull you into a false sense of security before gleefully turning the tables on you. It escalated to a point that was genuinely really exciting, only for maybe the second half of its final act to prove a tiny bit underwhelming. I was still invested, but if there's any part of the movie that's a bit less than amazing, I feel like it's the last half-hour (to some extent).

I largely liked this a lot, though. It's solidly written and well-acted, but the way it's shot proves most exciting here. Very clean at times, but then also anxiety-provoking at other times.

Some of the music and certain stuff thematically (keeping it vague) is also surprisingly unsettling. Not quite supernatural or horror-related, but it was definitely a more eerie film than I was expecting.

If the length makes watching this feel daunting, I'd say don't worry about it and jump in, because it didn't feel three hours long to me personally.

If you study Japanese, you will sooner or later read a procedural mystery novel such as the one this film was adapted from, because their narrative is matter-of-fact observation, and the mystery evolves through a sequence of events - perfect to learn the language. Many movies have been based on these but are largely unknown in the West, because these films do not conform to our expectations of police procedural drama.

The violence is toned down, but comes as an element of shock nevertheless, because the film takes a long time to establish its protagonists - a skill Uchida had honed in a career of almost 50 years. While few of his prewar social dramas survive, and most of his postwar samurai epics are glaringly violent and experimental, this three-hour epic completely focuses on characterization, which has a strong immersive effect. The story is hardly noteworthy, which seems to irritate a few reviewers and won't work with everyone. But it's hard not to be enthralled by Sachiko Hidari's pure hearted yet masochistic prostitute, and Rentarô Mikuni's brooding fugitive meandering between innocence and brutality. Comedian Junzaburô Ban completes the trio of leads difficult to forget as the ill investigator haunted by an unsolved case. It also features a rather young Ken Takakura just before his break to stardom with "Abashiri Prison" as a novice cop.

What makes the three hours worth sitting through and makes this Uchida's undisputed masterpiece is the ending. It is not entirely unexpected but the way it is executed is truly unforgettable. Definitely required viewing for those interested in the Japanese psyche and slow, careful character establishment.

Living in thirty world we're already inured received too late those hidden worldwide gems that were recovered by latest advanced cleaning process of those old negative prints, in Kiga Kaikyô that means literally STRAITS OF HUNGER, in a polling by Japanese critics in 1999 reached in honorable third place, what an achievement got by Tomu Uchida, nonetheless this prize winner came on late period of his extensive career, this crime-cop-drama-mystery has a stained Noirish style and also has a slight hookup with French Novelle Vague.

This overlong production basically lays out in two main happenings carried out in September 20th 1947 in post war environment, firstly a heist of a large money held by three convicts followed by arson taking to death the pawnshop's wealthy owner, meanwhile a storm is near of the bay area ends up with a shipwreck of a ferryboat entailing in many hundred of deaths, those criminals harness the chaos installed on rescue to sneak away by boat, later just one of them Kakichi Inukay (Rentarô Mikuni) survives, aftermaths randomly meeting with a lovely-naïve pros.titute Yae Sugito (Sachiko Hidari), both having a heart sex night where the thief takes her a large amount of money.

Meanwhile the local policeman Yumisaka (Junzaburô Ban) sniffing around to find out a clue of those criminals, track down their footsteps, soon he reaches in Yae inquiring her over the running thief, in gratitude Yae alleges stayed the night with a dissimilar person, avoiding Yumisaka of the right track, at once the silly girl starts a kind of platonic love affair with the unknown Inukay, she ends up in Tokyo slum area, wondering one day should be meeting her do-gooder to be grateful for, it come in ten years after with tragic events unveiling hidden secrets from the past.

Awesome black & white Toei production, the slow paced narrative allowed to the viewers relish every single sequence on an everlasting journey of those power leading trio, an extensive and exhausting searching led by the tenacious cop, the platonic love of Yea keeping her alive even in hard old profession, and finally the early Inukay eroded by hunger nowadays try appease his guilty by generous donations addressed by inmates rehab program, also displays the hard hungry environment post WWII, a real portrait of this harder time.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 10.

Sachiko Hidari ("Yae") is great in this film as the young geisha who shelters "Inukai" (Rentarô Mikuni) from a storm one night. Next morning he leaves her quite a sum of money - one that enables her to change her life, pay her debts - all whilst he disappears. That storm was actually a tornado that sank a local ferry boat. During that investigation, two unknown bodies are identified - and they are soon tied in with a fire that largely destroyed a local village where a robbery had taken place. Where had the money gone? Who killed the men? Many years later, "Yae" spots a photograph in a newspaper that she thinks might be her long lost benefactor and sets out to say thanks - with tragic consequences. It is a long film this, over 3 hours, but the clever - almost internecine - fashion in which the old and new stories are married together; the police investigations and the characterisations are carefully and fully crafted leaves us with quite a complex crime thriller. Now, sadly, what makes the thriller work so well is also what ruined the ending for me. It is flawed in so many ways as to make me want to shout at the screen. It's not that the ending itself is wrong, it is that the police procedures (remembering that there was little science involved in the process) are all just to convenient - far fetched, even. Still, this is a strongly paced, beautifully photographed piece of story-telling cinema that runs parallel narratives well and cohesively.

This just ran at MoMA's extraordinary survey of films from the Japan Film Institute, and it was one of the best in the series. A real eye opener--previous commenters nailed it. Definitely makes you want to explore the director's other work. Fits in that uniquely Japanese genre of the whodunnit where the process of detection requires travel throughout the country and specifics of local cultures and habits--so the travelogue is half the fascination. Getting a young Ken Takakura plus Rentaro Mikuni in the same picture is extra added bonus. If you like later films of this type such as *Castle of Sand* or *Vengeance Is Mine*, you'll like this one.