I Am Waiting (1957)

Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars; subtitles = nine (9) stars; sound effects = four (4) stars. Koreyoshi Kurahara's directorial debut, and it's a stunner! A raw, in-your-face gangster movie, but with an unusual psychological twist. Its effect on the viewer is immediate (starting with the initial, haunting scene) and continuous right up to the final, ambiguous fadeout. Once Director Kurahara has drawn the viewer into his film, resistance is futile! The tale is a fists-on violent (there are lots of boxing fights) and mildly romantic (the protagonists may become lovers later on) one of a fascinating chance encounter. Each character has suffered a devastating set back (she as an operatic singer, he as a light-weight boxer) just as their respective carriers were taking off. Acting by the two leads is extremely engaging. Actress Mie Kitahara's performance really shines when she is given significant/meaningful dialog to deliver besides just exhibiting facial expressions and body language. Actors playing supporting roles as mob types deliver uneven performances and often look/act ridiculous (intended commentary by the Director?). The climatic fight scene suffers from overdone symbolism (a ton of paper currency somehow ends up covering the prone hoodlum-boss loser) and phony, non-synchronized sound effects (punches always sound the same and are often heard before being seen!). Garden-variety crooning during the opening and closing credits seems incongruous and out of place in a mob-themed movie. Otherwise, the music is spot-on jazzy. Cinematography (narrow screen, black and white) and lighting are outstanding and major contributors to the film's successful edgy impact. Restoration is excellent and subtitles are very well done. Highly recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

A bar owner on the waterfront takes action to prevent a young woman from killing herself. This leads to a nice relationship, but both characters are carrying around deep secrets. The young man was a promising boxer but one night a man provoked him into a fight and he killed him, losing any chance of realizing his dream. This has led to depression and hope of changing his life in some way. His brother has supposedly gone to Brazil and is getting things ready for them to farm some land. The odd thing is that there has been no word from the him. The young woman is a lounge singer, and she is hooked up with some bad guys who want her back. Neither of them can seem to get rid of their respective pasts. Soon, the two stories become intertwined. This isn't bad but it is slow moving and meandering. Also, there is some unfinished business at the end.

This is the debut feature film from to-be-New Wave director Koreyoshi Kurahara, also responsible for The Warped Ones, one of the craziest films from the 1960s. I Am Waiting is a different piece of work, so if you liked TWO, don't expect anything similar here. I Am Waiting is a film noir reminiscent of those from America or France, so there's nothing truly exotic about the movie in this regard, in fact, the only thing in the film you wouldn't find in a Western production is a game of mahjong. The film stars Yujiro Ishihara and Mie Kitahara, fresh off their collaboration on Ko Nakahira's Crazed Fruit (1956), amongst many of their other films. The story is a typical noir plot about crime, melancholia and characters haunted by their past mistakes. The plot is based entirely on coincidences, be it the principal three characters all having the same past crime of murdering someone, or the huge coincidence that connects the main two story lines. But it's not really a lazy writing device because the entire plot is based on these coincidental happenings. The film starts off as a romance/character study, but later dissolves into a crime thriller with fisticuffs and investigations. For the most part though, it seems as if the mobster villains weren't in Kurahara's interest as much as the romantic plot was.The dumbest thing about the movie are the villains; they're completely incompetent and it's almost a joke how much of an advantage the hero has over them. They're unable to kill a person by whacking him on the head with a bat and throwing him unconscious in the sea, but the protagonist is perfectly capable of delivering swift killing punches as he effortlessly disposes of multiple baddies by beating them to death. The entire boxing sub-plot actually reminds me of Kubrick's film noir Killer's Kiss, which came out two years before Kurahara's film.The movie's pace is slow but naturally escalates in the final scene, in the true spirit of the classic narratives of many other notable crime films of the period. The opening sequence showing water dripping water on a pond is memorable, as well as some minor stylistical choices, such as utilizing ceiling fans to create rotating shadows onto the set, a trick Kurahara used to better effect years later in The Warped Ones.This movie started off my Nikkatsu Noir experience and while certainly not bad, it isn't anything special either. All in all, I'm definitely interested in seeing more of these films, but this one was just OK.

Jôji is a washed up boxer. One night he meets Saeko down by the harbor--and she's contemplating killing herself as she's lost her voice--and that's terrible for a professional singer! You don't learn all this up front--it slowly unfolds as the film progresses. However, what neither knows is that her employer and Jôji's plan to move to a farm in Brazil are actually inextricably linked. There is MUCH more to the plot than this, but I'd rather say nothing more about this--as the plot is pretty interesting and offers lots of nice twists and my discussing the plot would ruin the suspense.This is a movie that creeps up on you slowly. At first, it seems like an ordinary sort of film about two losers who somehow find each other. However, keep watching--the plot changes into less of a romance and more a film noir treasure. The dark lighting, criminals who come into their lives and the dark turn of the plot all work together to make a dandy film--well written, well acted and very exciting in its direction.