Aru kyôhaku

Intimidation (1960)

A start, clean, moody heist film. Not really a noir, but a short bank robbery narrative with some troubled main characters. Most of it occurs at night or inside and it has a precision to the photography and lighting that's beautiful. The plot is at first more straight forward than you might wish, and in fact the acting isn't evenly good, though solid enough to work. But it has a quiet startling steadiness and an almost petty drive for some money to pay someone off for a blackmail scheme.

What is meant to make it work is the realization that an ordinary bank clerk, even when driven to the edge, might not make a criminal. The pressures after all are too unexpected. And that the double-crossing he plans is not as clever as the double-cross his enemies have in mind. Exactly why all this is happening is slightly unexplained, or at least I missed it.

Besides all the gloomy tension there is a small town feel here, a Japanese parallel to the wonderful small Robert Wise film just one year earlier, "Odds Against Tomorrow." Neither is completely original in that bank heists are common enough--and they all have little twists. The twist here is the mind game that goes on between two of the bank employees (I can't say more).

And the twists continue beyond the main heist. That's when it gets most interesting, and narrows down to the two main actors on a train. It's quite archetypal at its best, formulaic at its most bland. And it's short, so give it a go.

The story is about two men whose lives and careers seem to be going in very different directions. Nakaike is a rather spineless man who is stuck in a job with no hope of promotion. At the same time, his co-worker (and friend) Takita has seen a huge rise in the bank where they work because he's manipulative. In the past, he used Nakaike's sister horribly. Then, he dumps her to marry the corporate boss' daughter. And, incidentally, the boss' daughter had been dating Nakaike! All in all, while Takita is not especially smart, he's astute at manipulating and sleeping his way to the top.

Now, despite the big celebration for Takita's big promotion and upcoming marriage occurring at the beginning of the film, things are not well for him. Soon a blackmailer arrives and announces he has proof that Takita had made a string of illegal loans and he'll turn him in...provided he steal 3,000,000 from the bank and give it to him! Where does it go from there? See the film.

"Intimidation" is not a big budgeted film...it's much more like a Japanese B-movie. Its run time of 65 minutes is indicative of a B and much of the film seems to scream out B as well...such as some of the very broad acting, excessive exposition at the beginning (because of the short run time) and the use of a ridiculous dummy in the cliff scene towards the end. My feeling is that technically and artistically speaking, it's no triumph...and the ending seems a bit confused and drawn out....but it STILL manages to be very entertaining and enjoyable. A great movie? Nah...but one that will keep your interest.

Koreyoshi Kurahara's INTIMIDATION is a delicious little heist-noir. It revolves around Takita - a corrupt, ladder-climbing banker who's blackmailed into robbing his own bank before he leaves for a cushy corporate promotion. There's also Nakaike, his guileless, unambitious subordinate (and childhood friend - who might make the perfect fall-guy) and his hateful sister Yukie who's harbouring her share of regrets and bitter resentments.

Cerebrally intense, INTIMIDATION never lets us off the hook throughout its 65 min runtime. Kurahara comes across as a seasoned exponent of the genre particularly during the supremely executed, tension-fraught heist sequence - effectively employing quick cuts, sweaty close-ups to highlight the desperation-infested, claustrophobic bank setting.

There's also some daring Hitchcockian camera-work: Like a distinctive high angle shot during a key extortion scene (a la DIAL M FOR MURDER) or a pair of eerily-lensed bookending train sequences (a la SHADOW OF A DOUBT).

But it's in its final act where INTIMIDATION soars, loaded with clever twists & turns as it transforms into a vengeful game of chess where the players use coercive leverage and deep-rooted hostilities to one-up each other.

This is a brilliant little film that needs to be seen and appreciated.

Nobuo Kaneko is leaving the bank branch in the small town. He has done everything right. He did well at college, beat out childhood friend Kô Nishimura for the boss's daughter, and now he's headed for Tokyo. In three months he'll be on the board of directors, and when his father in law retires, he'll be in charge of the entire bank. He's even shaken off his mistress, whose pimp had shaken him down for three million yen. Then, after he gets good and drunk at his going-away party, in steps a hood who has proof of how he stole that money. He tells him that he's going to rob the bank. It's a perfect cover. Why would the manager rob his own bank? The only flaw is that Nishimura is the night man on the evening he has to do the job.

This is counted a Japanese noir, but honestly, I don't see it, despite the corruption. There's little of the dramatic Impressionism of film noir, even if the light level is kept low. That aside, it's a nifty little crime drama with a couple of excellent twists to the plot that kept me wondering through the end,

Aru Kyôhaku belonged to Japanese Noir circle coming from America this genre spreading worldwide at its period of time, where the director Koreyoshi Kurahara knew how to use with extreme expertise on noirish elements, the gripping premise focused in the leading character Matakichi (Kô Nishimura) a kind of smart and talked up bank manager is promoted as bank director after get marriage with bank owner's daughter, he is too much egocentric and vain, however behind this mask has an obscure guy, he forged documents to hidden loans for himself.

This scran caught in wrong hand, hereinafter an unknown man starts blackmailing him by hand-delivery letters by his co-worker and closest friend Kiosuke (Nobuo Kaneko), asking for a huge money otherwise will expose to authorities his fraudulent scheme to raise money, in a dead end he wondering steal the own bank, for such heist he chooses a right shift night where his best friend is working, even putting Kiusoke in jeopardy, may lost his job and thereafter ruins his life for good, indeed Matakichi is a crook guy, although a sudden twist will changes everything.

Valuable suspenseful heist, also a psychological thriller tainted of noirish style, apart it be a contrived screenplay, the director insert a sexy female opposite without making it in explicit format as the Americans, too much prudish, should be slight spicy, in other hand Nobuo Kaneko stolen the show as revengeful and scathing persona.

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First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5.