Dei ando naito

Day and Night is a moody, contemplative crime drama from Japan. It is relatively long (134 minutes), but mostly interesting and engaging. However, I kinda wished I could connect with it more than I did. It tends to gravitate towards emotional drama while sidelining the crime aspect, even if it also plays an important role in the plot. But even so, the characters still somehow remain on a certain distance from the viewer, like you get to know them but not enough to really care about what they do. The film does a lot of things right and is easy to admire; you have an interesting setting, a story different enough to be memorable, beautiful cinematography and soundtrack, very good acting and a prevailing air of noirish mystery. Yet it also tends to be too slowly paced, or is simply too long for its own good. Therefore, without a real emotional connection and sometimes sluggish pacing, the film leaves a bit to be desired. Still, I personally give it a 7/10 since it's solid in many aspects.