Written by Jūrō Kara
(1940-2024)
The 1995 Japanese film Umihoozuki was supposedly inspired by a true incident involving a Japanese girl who went missing in Taiwan (and was later found murdered by a taxi driver) several years ago. The story was adapted for the screen by — and also starred — Jūrō Kara, as HAIDA, a once-famous private detective, now fallen on hard times (he’s in rehab) and running out of luck. Or hope.
One day, he gets a great notion to jump in the river and drown, but he ends up rescuing another drowning man. Soon after Haidas lands a job investigating the mysterious disappearance of Mariko, the missing student. Sent from Taiwan, her mother received a rather cryptic letter.
“Wait a bit, Mother. I’m sending my breath. It will arrive soon.”
He heads off to Taiwan, with his assistant Ying Hung in tow.
According to Shelly Kraicer, who caught this rarely seen flick at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival and reviewed not for Chinesecinemas.org, it’s “a brilliantly comic Japanese murder mystery, with a mixed Japanese-Taiwanese cast… The mood of the film, at first puzzling and amusing, has the feel of a Thomas Pynchon novel: is ‘Mariko’ really dead? Is she really ‘Mariko’? Is the mysterious Sakatani trying to help Haida, or to kill him? Whom is Haida chasing, and why? Director Hayashi takes us on a wild Tilt-a-Whirl ride: it’s a giddy thrill to lose our bearings and emerge somewhere new. Dazzling cinematography, smart script, fine score.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jūrō Kara was a Japanese avant-garde playwright, theatre director, author, actor, and songwriter. He was at the forefront of the underground Angura (it means “little”) theatre movement in Japan.
Kaizo Hayashi (born 1957) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with To Sleep So As to Dream (1986). Around these parts, he’s best known for his neo-noir Maiku Hama (get it?) trilogy, about a Yokohama private eye private eye
FILMS
- UMIHOOZUKI
(aka “The Breath”)
(1995, Japan/Taiwan)
138 minutes
Screenplay by Jūrō Kara
Directed by Kaizo Hayashi
Language: Japanese
Starring Jūrō Kara as HAIDA
Also starring Yoshio Harada, Tang Na, Ni Shujun, Haruko Wanibuchi, T.C. Lin
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Big in Japan
Japanese Eyes
Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
