Points and Lines
Director: Tsuneo Kobayashi
Year: 1958
Rating: 7.0
Aka - Ten to Sen
I read this crime novel from Seichō Matsumoto
decades ago and must admit I don't recall the details but do remember thinking
it brilliant. A very clever intricate murder slowly unraveled by basic dogged
police procedural. His Inspector Imanishi Investigates and A Quiet Place
are also well-worth reading. Matsumoto wrote over 450 novels - how do people
do that - on all sorts of subjects but it is his crime novels that made him
famous. Points and Lines published in the same year as the film was his first
big seller. In his forties. The vast majority of those 450 books were written
after that. So aspiring novelists out there - never give up. So I was
pleased to see that the book was made into a film. A good one though slow
and methodical as the police gather information one bit at a time -
run into many dead-ends - many lies - a cover up - but figure it out in the
end. Proving it is a different matter though.
Two bodies are discovered on the beach
in an apparent double suicide - something not unfamiliar in Japan - from
cyanide - his arm being used as a pillow for her to lay her head. He turns
out to be an Assistant Director in a Government department and she is a hostess
girl. It seems obvious but an older quiet detective named Torigai asks why
here in such a desolate place - most double suicides are done surrounded
by beauty. He continues to wonder, does a little digging, a few things
don't add up but there is no proof of any kind. So it is handed off to a
younger Tokyo detective Mihara (Hiroshi Minami) and he becomes obsessed with
the case. His suspicions lead to Yasuda (the almost always wicked Isao Yamagata),
a business man who had dealings with that Govt department but his alibi seems
so solid - how could he possibly have killed the two people in one location
if he was in another city.
Points and Lines. It refers to the train
and plane timetables that play a large role in the film. In the cast also
is the wonderfully elegant and sometimes cruel Mieko Takamine as Yasuda's
wife and the veteran Takashi Shimura as the police inspector who gets pulled
into the case as well. In an American film the case would usually rest
on one cop and maybe his partner to crack. But reflecting Japanese culture
this turns into an entire police department digging out the evidence and
refusing to give up. Shot in lovely color which was still not that common
in 1958, the film looks great and the décor in the sets is eye-catching
as are the many women who pass through the film. Directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi
(The Invisible Man, The Deep Blue Sea).
