A Certain Killer (1967)

A Certain Killer (1967). 1h 22m

“u0026quot;Aru koroshi yau0026quot; (A Certain Killer / The Hitman, 1967) is a Japanese yakuza/crime film starring Ichikawa Raizo, possibly the countryu0026#39;s biggest movie star at the time. Looking at how popular Raizo was, itu0026#39;s a shame that so many of his later films are generic and predictable genre products, where no effort for artistic creativity is made. This film, by the usually quite lazy genre-worker Mori Kazuo, is better than average. It has a good screenplay by Masumura Yasuzo (one of my favorite directors) and Ishimatsu Yoshihiro, based on a novel by Fujiwara Shinji. Itu0026#39;s not a yakuza exploitation film, or an action piece without any nuances, but a stylistic affair, that resembles the films of French auteur Jean-Pierre Melville, especially early on in the film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSet in the post-war, Ichikawa plays a man who becomes a hitman for an old yakuza family in order to make a living. The plot is quite simple – much like the plots in Melville films – but the way itu0026#39;s told gets your attention. The film starts quietly and patiently, and once we get action, even that is done with restrain. Ichikawa gives a good performance, though the leading lady was a bit over-the-top, affecting the mood of the film too much.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThough this is better than most late Ichikawa, I still am a bit bummed it wasnu0026#39;t made by a more exciting director. Mori is not bad, but doesnu0026#39;t make it too memorable either. Comparing it to the greatest of French cinema doesnu0026#39;t of course help, either. Masumura would have been a good choice, or Shinoda Masahiro who made u0026quot;Kawaita hanau0026quot; (Pale Flower, 1964). I recommend this to genre fans, and friends of Raizo, but you can certainly find more gripping Japanese crime narratives from the 60u0026#39;s, as well as tons of worse ones.”