Detective Story
Director: Negishi Kichitaro
Year: 1983
Rating: 6.0
Aka - The Story of a Detective
Detective Story appears to be a vehicle specifically built for Hiroko Yakushimaru
who was the latest teen idol in Japan in the early 1980s. She was just coming
off The Aimed School and Sailor Suit and Machine Gun which had both shot
her to the top. The Kadokawa Studio wasn't going to lose any time cashing
in on their new star. This isn't as fantastical as the two earlier films
- in The Aimed School she was a student who gained psychic powers who had
to battle a demon from Venus and in Sailor Suit and Machine Gun she inherits
a Yakuza gang from her dead father and has to run it - wielding the famous
machine gun at the end of the film. Nothing like that here - now she only
has to solve the murder of a Yakuza henchman in a few days. Which she goes
about trying to do in what turns into a sweet though slightly off-putting
coming of age film as well.
Naomi (Hiroko) comes from a wealthy family and is going to university. In
six days she departs for America possibly for good to join her father. Some
six days. First she falls for another student who is just trying to get her
in bed with him. When he convinces her to join him in a hotel room and begins
putting the moves on this virgin, a man bursts into the room to put a stop
to these shenanigans. He is the detective of the story. Tsujiyama (Yûsaku
Matsuda - the bad guy in Black Rain) who has been hired by her father to
make sure she is safe and has been following her unnoticed for days. Initially,
she is very hostile towards him but in the next few days they become friends
and she just accepts him in her life. Nice to have a detective!
His life turns out to be something of a mess - most of his work is grunge
work - divorce and following people. His marriage to a singer who works in
a club where the girls wear Playboy bunny outfits and are expected to go
with customers has ended and he is at loose ends. His wife is having an affair
with the married club owner - married to the daughter of a Yakuza head. He
is murdered by a knife in the back while showering in a Love Hotel while
the ex-wife is sleeping. She is now wanted both by the cops as the main suspect
and by the Yakuza to "question". It is up to the detective and Naomi to find
the real killer before they get her. Naomi turns out to be the real detective
of the story. A non-stop spunky energy bolt of energy who faces off against
the Yakuza. Where was her machine gun? Enjoyable enough film with a romantic
angle that slowly emerges that might put people off. Hiroko Yakushimaru was
a teen idol because she was quite adorable with her short hair and shorter
stature. She still acts at times - had a part in a 2020 production - but
has also been in a few post 2000 favorites - the Always: Sunset on Third
films and in Princess Racoon.
Interesting to note that there is graphic violence - the knifing of the victim
- and nudity in this film. Yet in my mind I have to think that it was mainly
for teenagers. It is kind of like having had nudity and sex in a Hailey
Mills movie. That would have been very weird. Of course, I don't believe
Hailey ever used a machine gun either.
