Giwaku

I actually hadn't expected too much from this one. Suspicion (Japanese title "Giwaku") was a fairly big hit when it appeared in Japan in the early 80's, but many films do not age well. Not so this one, though--it is worth your time.

Based on a novel by the prolific Seichou Matsumoto, the story begins with a doting and well-to-do older man indulging the whims of his young (too young), pretty wife as they tour a seaside village. At dusk on that same day, however, their car suddenly races towards and then off the pier, astounding several passers-by. The young wife, Kumako, emerges from the water and makes her way to the shore; her husband Fukutaro Shirakawa does not come up. Suspicion builds that Kumako has killed hubby in a thinly disguised attempt to claim the absurdly high insurance on same, amounting to over 300 million yen. The bereaved Shirakawa family is convinced that the gold-digger wife is a scheming murderer; the police are coming around to their point of view.

Enter Ritsuko Sahara, hotshot lawyer, a woman who has been highly successful in a man's world--such was (and largely still is) the Japan of this period. She reluctantly agrees to defend Kumako, but the two are oil and water, dogs and monkeys, to use a Japanese idiom: they spend as much time crossing swords with each other as trying to beat the murder rap.

Pretty fine entertainment, and it plays fair. Hints are provided, and an observant viewer might be able to guess the denouement. And the fireworks between the two female leads are also entertaining, if a bit overplayed, especially at the end.

"Be that as it may, SUSPICION still stands out from the crowd on account of its two polarized female protagonists, both regarded as "atypical" from the patriarchal society. On the one hand, Kumako is an inveterate temptress, who will stop at nothing to obtain what she desires, she might not be homicidal (not yet), but a sociopath nonetheless; Ritsuko, on the other hand, is a virtuous cynic asserting herself with a supercilious mien that can cow any member of the strong sex into humiliation. Kumako is a venomous cottonmouth, base enough to bring undoing to a weak-minded man, whereas Ritsuko is an elegant egret, lofty enough to dwarf any lesser mortals, her unattainableness can equally arouse misogyny among over-dignified menfolk. Putting these two together, it is a bang! Both actresses are consistently riveting to behold, Iwashita conducts herself with a self-possessed bearing to the T, and her "nasty look" is razor-sharp and indelible. Momoi, from her aspect, Kumako is a femme fatale sans glamor, totally subjugated to her primeval instinct and unmediated temperament, she is incapable of taking the shaft and when provoked, she snaps back right on the spot. Therefore, kudos to Momoi, an amoral and autonomous female character rarely seen in the Japanese cinema, both before and after, comes into being like a sledgehammer, and we are punch-drunk."

read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, thanks.