Ore wa matteru ze (1957)

Ore wa matteru ze: Directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara. With Yûjirô Ishihara, Mie Kitahara, Isamu Kosugi, Kenjirô Uemura. A former boxer gets involved with a club hostess trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer.

“The earliest film in Eclipseu0026#39;s new Nikkatsu Noir set, this one stars Yujiro Ishihara and Mie Kitahara, the two stars of the previous yearu0026#39;s Crazed Fruit (these are only two of about two dozen films they made together). I Am Waiting is a pretty good crime flick about a retired boxer who meets up with a lounge singer who is trying to run away from her gangster employer. The boxer has been waiting a year for his brother to contact him from Brazil, where he hopes to move and help his brother farm. Turns out that his brother never made it there. His mysterious disappearance is linked with the aforementioned gangsters. The story here is really good, and, in general, itu0026#39;s well directed and performed. It does move a tad too slowly, though, and the two halves of the plot, the romance and the mystery of the missing brother, are connected by a pretty big and hard-to-buy coincidence. Itu0026#39;s a good film, but itu0026#39;s one that feels like it could have been done a little bit better (the perfect film for a remake!).”