One of Suzuki's many lesser-known short fares, this movie looked like this was made for television in a shoestring budget. But Suzuki can work wonders with a bare-minimum set of a blank green wall and a hospital iron cot under a flat light. The story of a moral police detective falling for the girlfriend of a yakuza he had killed is a typical noir story. But under Suzuki's longtime collaborator and pinku legend Atsushi Yamatoya's screenplay this film takes many absurd, surreal turns towards the supernatural - all metaphorical of course. And they make a great cinematic experience. The detective starts to experience hallucinations about the ghost of the dead yakuza, believing the girlfriend is harboring his soul inside her - stories such as this can only make sense in a Seijun Suzuki film. Towards the end we are presented with a rather moral twist presented in a sardonic fashion.
It is difficult to categorize films like this - a mix of noir, mystery, comedy, romance, psychological horror all together. The uninitiated might consider it a complete mess, all over the place. But I personally enjoy little films with rough edges such as this where the director has squeezed everything out of his 45 minutes and a film production company's pocket change, to tell a complex story of human behavior. 6.5/10
