Very funny, and unlikely story about a samurai ghost becoming the witness in a murder trial.
Emi Hosho (Eri Fukatsu) is a lawyer with no talent. She always says the wrong things, and blows her case. Her client Goro Yabe (KAN) is accused of killing his wife Fuko (Yuko Takeuchi), but it's really a plot by Fuko's sister Suzuko to kill her sister and put the blame on Goro. Goro's only defense is that he couldn't move at the time of the murder because he was pinned by the samurai ghost at the hotel. Emi decides to check if the ghost really exists and heads for the hotel Shikabane-so. There she meets Rokubei Sarashina (Toshiyuki Nishida) who's a 400 year old ghost of the Hojo clan. She asks Rokubei to be the witness, and Rokubei accepts. The problem is, Rokubei can only be seen by a select group of people. These includes the court artist Tamaru Himura (Sen Yamamoto), the prosecutor Tooru Osano (Kiichi Nakai), the truck driver Isetani (Zen Kajiwara), and the call girl (Ryoko Shinohara). Emi must figure out the common denominator between them to figure out why only they can see Rokubei. Then she needs to convince the judge, and the prosecutor that Rokubei's testimonial is legitimate.
Kiichi Nakai puts in a stellar performance as the prosecutor. His straight laced acting actually adds humor to the scenes. Toshiyuki Nishida, and Eri Fukatsu also puts in good performance as the "Witness", and the lawyer. Zen Kajihara were really funny at the restaurant as the truck driver who can see the ghost.
I think this movie is worth seeing for the performance of Kiichi Nakai alone. There are other funny scenes, but the battle between the defense and the prosecution is the highlight of this movie. Osano knows that Rokubei is real, but pretends that he doesn't know. He insists that a testimony by a ghost that is not proved by science, cannot be accepted in the court of law.
Good movie that's a delight to watch for all the funny scenes.
