Ikari no machi

Jûkichi Uno (Mori) and Yasumi Hara (Shigetaka) are a couple of conmen who fleece women for money on the pretext of falling in love with them at dancehall locations. Uno writes the scripts for Haro to then put into practice on the dancefloor. The number one rule for Hara is that he must not fall in love and pursue any of the women from the dancehall.

They have a few tricks up their sleeve and the film has a good beginning at one of these dances. It introduces us to our two main characters at work and reveals that they are in cahoots. Hara has a sister - Setsuko Wakayama (Masako) - who suspects all is not right with her brother and friend and seeks to put things right by influencing Mori. Hara, on the other hand, is tempted by greed and aspirations of wealth, and wants to take things to the next level of criminality.

The film has interest whilst you watch but I don't like the ending. It's downbeat and involves someone getting slashed in the face! No thank you - not for me! Lose a couple of marks. The women are difficult to distinguish between one another as they look the same so there can be some character confusion. The best female character and the best character in the film is the knowing gangster Yuriko Hamada (Tagami) who Hara meets at one of these dances and gets out of his depth with. She acts just as you would expect a seasoned criminal to act and she sees through Hara and his game, even turning the tables on him by using him - ha ha. It's good karma for him.

The film is not bad but any kind of slashing in the face is a big "NO" for me. So, I won't be watching it again.