Points and Lines
Director: Tsuneo Kobayashi
Year: 1958
Rating: 7.0
Aka - Ten to Sen
I read this crime novel from Seichō Matsumoto decades ago and must admit
I don't recall the details but do remember thinking it brilliant. A very
clever intricate murder slowly unraveled by basic dogged police procedural.
His Inspector Imanishi Investigates and A Quiet Place are also well-worth
reading. Matsumoto wrote over 450 novels - how do people do that - on all
sorts of subjects but it is his crime novels that made him famous. Points
and Lines published in the same year as the film was his first big seller.
In his forties. The vast majority of those 450 books were written after that.
So aspiring novelists out there - never give up. So I was pleased to
see that the book was made into a film. A good one though slow and methodical
as the police gather information one bit at a time - run into many
dead-ends - many lies - a cover up - but figure it out in the end. Proving
it is a different matter though.
Two bodies are discovered on the beach in an apparent double suicide - something
not unfamiliar in Japan - from cyanide - his arm being used as a pillow for
her to lay her head. He turns out to be an Assistant Director in a Government
department and she is a hostess girl. It seems obvious but an older quiet
detective named Torigai asks why here in such a desolate place - most double
suicides are done surrounded by beauty. He continues to wonder, does
a little digging, a few things don't add up but there is no proof of any
kind. So it is handed off to a younger Tokyo detective Mihara (Hiroshi Minami)
and he becomes obsessed with the case. His suspicions lead to Yasuda (the
almost always wicked Isao Yamagata), a business man who had dealings with
that Govt department but his alibi seems so solid - how could he possibly
have killed the two people in one location if he was in another city.
Points and Lines. It refers to the train and plane timetables that play a
large role in the film. In the cast also is the wonderfully elegant and sometimes
cruel Mieko Takamine as Yasuda's wife and the veteran Takashi Shimura as
the police inspector who gets pulled into the case as well. In an American
film the case would usually rest on one cop and maybe his partner to crack.
But reflecting Japanese culture this turns into an entire police department
digging out the evidence and refusing to give up. Shot in lovely color which
was still not that common in 1958, the film looks great and the décor
in the sets is eye-catching as are the many women who pass through the film.
Directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi (The Invisible Man, The Deep Blue Sea).
