Karami-ai

Human chasms open up in the fourth of five collaborations between Masaki Kobayashi and the Ninjin Club. Shaped by Toru Takemitsu's jazz score, nervous chaos breaks ground behind a cold, contrasting black and white façade when the dying businessman Kawahara (So Yamamura) considers dividing his fortune among his three illegitimate children and fobbing off his young wife (Misako Watanabe) with a compulsory share. The search for potential beneficiaries triggers a cascade of intrigue, extortion and murder in Kawahara's business and family environment. As an initially dutifully loyal secretary, Keiko Kishi brilliantly moves from the periphery of the dark film noir to its center of gravity, cool and unfathomable. (mg)