FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
MAIKU HAMA PRIVATE EYE TRILOGY:
THE STAIRWAY TO THE DISTANT PAST (1995)
THE TRAP (1996)
Upstairs in the old Cinemascope movie theater is the office of Maiku "Mike" Hama
(Masatoshi Nagase), a cool-cat private eye who maneuvers through the city of
Yokohama in his beloved vintage Nash convertible. Though
decked out in snazzy retro shirts or shades, Maiku isn't all about
being slick - at the end of the day he's just trying to save enough money so
that his kid sister can go to college. But
with clients bizarre and twisted, Maiku always
ends up in a surrealistic web of underground crime armed with nothing
but his quick-tempered fists and a big heart that palpitates for
justice.
The Most Terrible Time in My Life captures a multi-ethnic gang war,
with plenty of severed fingers and backstabbing in stylish
black-and-white, long takes and low-key lighting - a vigorous homage to
American film noir and French New Wave. The second and best
installment, The Stairway to the Distant Past, takes place right where the
first one left off, bringing in an iconic Japanese cast including Hiroshima Mon Amour's
Eiji Okada. He stars as the
mysterious Man in White, whose shady presence is enough to bring
locals, the police force and even rival gangs to their knees. The Trap
takes on a darker edge as Maiku is set up as a killer by an eerie pair
of psychopaths, until his mentor organizes his detective
ring to save Maiku.
Because of director Hayashi's focus on the stylistic elements of the
detective genre, the Maiku Hama trilogy struggles to rise above parody,
and the detective yarns are at times flimsy (all the clues Maiku
needs are provided by his trusty cab driver-cum-informant).
Nevertheless, Maiku Hama was popular enough to resurface as a recent
TV series in Japan, in which a Harajuku-hipster feel was added to the
former retro vibe and jazzy score. But until that version
comes out in the States, this trilogy stands alone as a refined pulp
combination of quirky characters, edgy aesthetics and cheeky capers. Marie Iida
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