Intimidation (1960) – Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara – 7/10 (very good)
Kurahara’s grip on the narrative is quite impressive and it is pretty astonishing he manages to wedge as much material as he does into the frugal, barely-over-60-minute-long Nikkatsu framework. The director outfits the taut, suspenseful film noir with the highly acerbic social commentary, treating of nepotism and other hypocrisies transpiring within the rigid, corporatist hierarchy of post-war Japan. The darkly humorous storyline serves as an opportunity to showcase the vacuity of social convenances seen on the exterior of the societal edifice as well as the nefariousness of the actions stealthily performed by supposedly upstanding members of the society; it likewise outlines the sordid means by which underdogs endeavor to stay afloat in the face of the vicissitudes occasioned by their superiors. The critique works primarily owing to the fact that the tale is infused with a dark sense of humor and forgoes an inordinately moralizing tone, which blights many a work of this kind. The composition may sporadically prove somewhat rough around the edges in virtue of the exceedingly condensed nature of the narrative, but this characteristic sort of redounds to film’s benefit in that paradoxically, it comes to heighten the aforementioned tensions and brings out the said themes even more forcefully and pellucidly.
Absent of a trailer, here’s a short clip from the film:
