There is a tragedy of great artists getting old and off. I think Kon Ichikawa had suffered from this reality and it is reflected here rather clearly in this film. It would be wrong to judge his directorial profile upon the twilight of his days. I know several great directors who insisted on making films to the very end, and their later works were never comparable to the masterpieces of the early days. John Huston was one. Francis Ford Coppola comes to mind. William Friedkin is probably another. Not sure if it is happening with the unsinkable Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. No sign, though, on the works of Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen, possibly because of their mixed records. Nevertheless, even a lesser work of Kon Ichikawa's calibre does not fail to entertain. The story remains well-told and grabbing. Only here and there, we see some awkward moments, probably on the old man's bad days at work. Ichikawa's firm imprint is quite pale in this one. Watching this film, one should decide to relax, less critiquing, and be thoroughly entertained. I find it a nice, clean, unpolluted detective story of a classic nature. It takes a clean-minded person like Ichikawa's to make such an all-around cleanly environment. A political message is also there, neatly and carefully inserted: Japan in the aftermath of World War Two. People suffered greatly at the loss of their loved ones. Future was blurry and good fortunes were hard to find or be believed. And personal economy was rather impossible. Thus, greed, economically-motivated crimes, and shortsightedness of those lost souls. Not only in such a vain and vengeful old family, even our good detective must count his pay to make sure it is all there. This is the one Japan that died along with Mr. Kon Ichikawa. Today will bring this haunting ghost back to Japan or not, right after the Tsunami and series of economic earthquakes, we do not know.
