Detective Story
Director: Negishi Kichitaro
Year: 1983
Rating: 6.0
Aka - The Story of a Detective
Detective Story appears to be a vehicle
specifically built for Hiroko Yakushimaru who was the latest teen idol in
Japan in the early 1980s. She was just coming off The Aimed School and Sailor
Suit and Machine Gun which had both shot her to the top. The Kadokawa Studio
wasn't going to lose any time cashing in on their new star. This isn't as
fantastical as the two earlier films - in The Aimed School she was a student
who gained psychic powers who had to battle a demon from Venus and in Sailor
Suit and Machine Gun she inherits a Yakuza gang from her dead father and
has to run it - wielding the famous machine gun at the end of the film. Nothing
like that here - now she only has to solve the murder of a Yakuza henchman
in a few days. Which she goes about trying to do in what turns into a sweet
though slightly off-putting coming of age film as well.
Naomi (Hiroko) comes from a wealthy family
and is going to university. In six days she departs for America possibly
for good to join her father. Some six days. First she falls for another student
who is just trying to get her in bed with him. When he convinces her to join
him in a hotel room and begins putting the moves on this virgin, a man bursts
into the room to put a stop to these shenanigans. He is the detective of
the story. Tsujiyama (Yûsaku Matsuda - the bad guy in Black Rain) who
has been hired by her father to make sure she is safe and has been following
her unnoticed for days. Initially, she is very hostile towards him but in
the next few days they become friends and she just accepts him in her life.
Nice to have a detective!
His life turns out to be something of a
mess - most of his work is grunge work - divorce and following people. His
marriage to a singer who works in a club where the girls wear Playboy bunny
outfits and are expected to go with customers has ended and he is at loose
ends. His wife is having an affair with the married club owner - married
to the daughter of a Yakuza head. He is murdered by a knife in the back while
showering in a Love Hotel while the ex-wife is sleeping. She is now wanted
both by the cops as the main suspect and by the Yakuza to "question". It
is up to the detective and Naomi to find the real killer before they get
her. Naomi turns out to be the real detective of the story. A non-stop spunky
energy bolt of energy who faces off against the Yakuza. Where was her machine
gun? Enjoyable enough film with a romantic angle that slowly emerges that
might put people off. Hiroko Yakushimaru was a teen idol because she was
quite adorable with her short hair and shorter stature. She still acts at
times - had a part in a 2020 production - but has also been in a few post
2000 favorites - the Always: Sunset on Third films and in Princess Racoon.
Interesting to note that there is graphic
violence - the knifing of the victim - and nudity in this film. Yet in my
mind I have to think that it was mainly for teenagers. It is kind of like
having had nudity and sex in a Hailey Mills movie. That would have
been very weird. Of course, I don't believe Hailey ever used a machine gun
either.