Over ten years ago I watched The Most Terrible
Time in My Life (1993) and though I very much enjoyed it, I never followed
up on the sequel till now. The Most Terrible Time introduces us to Maiku
Hama, a low rent Japanese detective whose office is above a movie theater
where his customers have to buy a ticket in order to see him. His name is
a play on American tough guy icon Mike Hammer from Mickey Spillane but Hama
is as far from Hammer as you can get. Instead of doing the beating, he is
usually the object of the beating. Portrayed by Masatoshi Nagase, who is
best known to Western viewers for his character in Jarmusch's "Mystery Train",
Hama is a skinny young man who has an affection for all things America 1950s
with his clothes, sunglasses and cars. The Most Terrible Time was shot in
black and white as a nod to the noir films of the 1950's, but right at the
end it suddenly explodes into color and this one takes it from there.
Hama is still above the theater which is advertising Cinemascope and the
film playing there is in fact The Most Terrible Time in My Life. To a full
house! Hama isn't doing well professionally - cases are rare, his car is
taken by debt collectors forcing him to use a bicycle and he is down to 1,500
yen. He has taken care of his younger sister ever since their mother deserted
them years before and their father is unknown. So he is thrilled when a woman
comes in and asks him to look for Marie - which turns out to be a little
dog. But this is Yokohama - beneath the stunning cherry blossoms is a festering
rot - a dirty city dominated by the Yakuza and where the cops are not much
cleaner. In Most Terrible Hama had to deal with Taiwanese gangsters but in
this one they are home grown and even deadlier.
A cop comes to him and pressures Hama (by telling him he will plant drugs
on him) to investigate the White Man. The White Man is a murky mysterious
figure who has run the waterfront for decades and anyone who has tried to
either investigate or take power has ended up dead. But this is a cop you
don't say no to. On top of this the long gone mother has returned and has
gone back to work in a sleazy burlesque joint where men get nose bleeds as
she dances. Hama wants nothing to do with her, but the past comes back to
smack him in the face. The film loses its focus at times and in particular
at the end goes a bit off the tracks in a game of Russian Roulette, but is
at the same time quite compelling.
The White Man is played by veteran actor Eiji Okada who starred in Hiroshima,
Mon Amour and Woman of the Dunes and was to pass away not long after this
film was shot. Director Shin'ya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo, Snake in June, Nightmare
Detective) plays one of the two gangsters who thinks it is a good idea to
challenge The White Man and Jo Shishido is Hama's friend who urges him to
leave Yokohama before he is killed. The cop is played by Akaji Maro who had
a part in both Kill Bill I and II as Boss Ozawah. The director of this film
is Kaizô Hayashi and in the following year he directed the third film
in the Maiku Hama Trilogy, The Trap (Wana) and I plan on seeing that one
shortly.
Directed by:
Kaizo Hayashi
Year: 1995
My Rating: 7.5
Aka - Wana
Maiku Hama returns for the third and last time on the big screen though there
was a TV series in Japan based on this character in 2002 called Shiritsu
tantei Hama Maiku. This is a very different type of film from the first two
in which Hama reluctantly found himself involved in the affairs of the Yokohama
Yakuza. This one is possibly influenced by the Japanese horror trend that
was just starting up - as it is at times creepy as hell and psychologically
murky. It seems to ask questions about identity - do we understand who we
are, are we hiding it under levels of psychosis, how many identities do we
have inside us. It is both weird and intriguing when you think back on it
and you aren't sure if the director is just playing games with your head
or if there is something else going on here.
Young women all made up and wearing pretty dresses are found in public places
like park benches or on a Ferris wheel quite dead looking like preserved
dolls. A serial killer is knocking them out with a drugged syringe and then
a few days later they show up. Since the last film Hama (Masatoshi Nagase)
has fallen in love with a mute woman who is a Christian. When a man in a
mask with a hideous face underneath asks Hama to find a man, Hama turns him
down. Not much later this man tries to inject his girlfriend but Hama saves
her. But when another victim shows up, his fingerprints are found on her
necklace and Hama is on the run from the cops. How he wonders did his fingerprints
get on the necklace.
The man in the mask seems to be in cahoots with a woman and a brain damaged
young man that she takes care of in the most intimate of ways. They are all
crazy as shit. Or are they? Or are there three of them? When you realize
that the young man is also played by Masatoshi Nagase it leads you down paths
of thought that are never answered as little clues or perhaps red herrings
are scattered along the way. How much of this is real or dream or nightmare?
In particular the ending which is mystifying and chilling.
All the characters just seem off as if we are getting echoes of them - his
girlfriend who is incredibly passive to a martyred degree, the cop who oddly
keeps helping him, the woman in the hospital for an inexplicitly long time,
his bright cheery friend played by Jo Shishido again, the other friend who
goes on the run with him. It is very dark for the most part though from time
to time director Kaizo Hayashi lightens it up out of the blue that feels
unreal. It is the type of film I should probably revisit to see if I missed
things along the way - I am sure I did - but I most likely will not.