The Shadow Within (1970) (orig. Kage no kuruma) – Director: Yoshitarô Nomura – 7/10 (very good)
On the face of it, the motion picture constitutes an agreeable, if somewhat standard, example of a psychological drama. What ultimately variegates the work at hand is Nomura’s eye for pleasing visuals and harmonious framing alongside film’s grainy photography all of which affords the tout ensemble a striking appearance. The narrative initially relates the events in a fairly stolid manner, but then proceeds to veer off the beaten path, culminating in the bizarre and unexpected revelation which conjoins protagonist’s highly stylized flashbacks with the central storyline in a suprisingly effective fashion, elevating the work in stature up a notch. The outing may appear rather slow in places to those expecting multiple twists or some general narrative vehemence, nonetheless, patient viewers should be rewarded and riveted throughout both in virtue of the evidently tasteful, above-par rendition and by reason of the colorful depiction of Japan’s urban life in the 1970s. The social commentary putting emphasis on individual’s accountability to the society at large, conspicuously at variance with the ‘socially-conscious’ feature films of the era, likewise strikes a different chord and renders the opus markedly divergent in tone, appearing moralistic without turning out preachy or inordinately grandiloquent.
