Zero no shoten (1961)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Yoshitaro Nomura

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (writer)
Seicho Matsumoto (novel)

Release Date:

19 March 1961 (Japan)

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Yoshiko Kuga	...	Teiko Uhara
Hizuru Takachiho	...	Sachiko Murota / Emmy
Ineko Arima	...	Hisako Tanuma
Koji Nambara	...	Kenichi Uhara
Kô Nishimura	...	Sotaro Uhara
Yoshi Kato	...	Mr. Murota
Sadako Sawamura	...	Sotaro's wife
Takanobu Hozumi	...	Mr. Honda
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Toyo Takahashi

Also Known As:

Zero Focus (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

Japan:95 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in the car windows when Mrs. Matsura drives away near the end.

Well photographed monotony

This was the first film I had seen by Nomura and constituted a major disappointment. Nomura appears to belong to the static variety of Japanese directors, preferring lingering and beautiful black and white shots over the bravura editing of contemporaries such as Seijun Suzuki or early Kurosawa. This approach really does not fit the material which is a stultifyingly dull and procedural mystery story that at no point rises above the generic, or generates any palpable tension or danger.

A point of comparison would be Rebecca by Hitchcock, mostly because of its focus on coastal scenery and echoes of the past affecting a hurried marriage. But this movie lacks any of the sexual or psychological aspects that make Rebecca so interesting. Some of the dialogue and minor performances are appalling. At one point a coastguard turns to a distraught bereaved wife and advises, straightfaced, "Why don't you walk to Noto cliff, It is very beautiful and a common spot to commit suicide." How did that ever get beyond the editing suite? Even the final exposition is ridiculously forced and overlong that I was tempted to fast forward to the end of the ending. One to miss