A down-and-out scriptwriter spends his days and nights in the bars of Tokyo. When he is thrown out of a joint because it is closing time, there is always a willing lady to spend the rest of the night with. In the street he has countless semi-philosophical discussions with fellow drinkers, male and female, (shot in black-and-white, as prologue to the different chapters) but in the end it often comes down to one thing: the bottle of whisky that has to be finished. An encounter with a homeless young man with AIDS marks a turning point in the life of the writer.
Cinematography
Stark black-and-white that drinks in Tokyo's neon shadows
Direction
Kobayashi's patient, unflinching gaze at self-destruction
Acting
Shinsui's lived-in weariness, never performed
Director
Masahiro Kobayashi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot guerrilla-style in actual Tokyo bars, often using real drunks as unwitting extras.
Kobayashi made this between commercial failures, financing it himself; the desperation on screen is documentary-real.
JP
