Kiri no hata

Guess there's no genre Yoji Yamada can't do? Because this was a solid crime/drama/mystery film, and I've never seen him do something quite like it yet.

Also a very different role from Chieko Baisho, compared to her role in the Tora-san series and the handful of other movies I've seen her in, and she was great.

The first and third acts are very good. The second act gets a little unfocused, but it's far from bad. I liked the structure, and how there were sometimes flashbacks within flashbacks- it bordered on convoluted at some points, but was always reeled back in well by Yamada's controlled and purposeful direction.

Might not satisfy if you're after truly earth shattering thrills or twists or plot reveals, but it worked well and I thought it was pretty good overall.