Kuro no tesuto kâ

Solid, noirish gangster film without regular gangsters. This is industrial espionage within the motor industry in Japan and as someone mentions during one heated exchange, they are acting more like the yakuza. Rough and tough with sex thrown into the mix, this is a most jaundiced view of Japanese business practices and moreover some part of the society at large. Director Yasuzo Masumura made some sixty films including the immaculate Irezumi (1966) and the delirious Blind Beast (1968). He has a great visual awareness and a confidence that make his films instantly recognisable as here with stark black and whites framed at angles, from behind someone's back, through chairs, amidst a children's playground or from the floor of a hostess bar. This thriller begins at a measured pace and even appears as if it might be a bit dull with all the talk of motor car manufacture but Masumura soon has us in his grip and trying to work out of all the many bad men who is more bad than the other.