Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Keiko Kishi | ... | Yasuko | |
Tatsuya Nakadai | ... | Kikuo Furukawa | |
Sô Yamamura | ... | Senzô | |
Seiji Miyaguchi | ... | Yoshida (lawyer) | |
Yûsuke Kawazu | ... | Sadao | |
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Mari Yoshimura | ... | Mariko aka Mari |
Minoru Chiaki | ... | Junichi Fujii | |
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Misako Watanabe | ... | Rie, Senzô's wife |
Osamu Takizawa | |||
Kôji Mitsui | |||
Tôru Abe | ... | Detective | |
Jun Hamamura | |||
Kinzô Shin | |||
Noriko Sengoku | |||
Kin Sugai |
On his deathbed, a wealthy businessman announces that his fortune is to be split equally among his three illegitimate children, whose whereabouts are unknown to his family and colleagues. A bevy of lawyers and associates then begin machinations to procure the money for themselves, enlisting the aid of impostors and blackmail. Yet all are outwitted by the cunning of the man's secretary (Keiko Kishi), in this entertaining condemnation of unchecked greed. Written by Anonymous
Worked through all of Kobayashi's higher profile movies during 2020, but it'll be nice if his less well-known stuff all turns out to be as good as this.
The story isn't quite as engaging as the narratives displayed in The Human Condition trilogy, Harakiri, or Kwaidan, but it's still interesting for most of its runtime.
I did like the noir feel, especially the jazzy soundtrack and the voiceover, and it's nice to see a female protagonist (who isn't your typical femme fatale) in a noirish movie like this.
It's probably a more minor work in his overall filmography, but yeah, still pretty good.