Mikko Zero Rain (aka Smashing The O Line) (1960)

Two newspaper reporters are writing stories about drug trafficking in Japan but while one (Kodaka Yuji) is content to report the news, the other (Nagato Hiroyuki) becomes part of the story when he unethically mixes in with the underworld. Directed by Seijun Suzuki (GATE OF FLESH). I'm a fan of Suzuki's work but even the greatest directors come up with a dud or two in their filmographies and this is the case here. It's watchable but the whole thing seemed for a lack of a better word ..... amateurish. Hiroyuki's character is ill defined. He's no better really than the drug smugglers he's trying to expose. Just one example: when his sister (Shimizu Mayumi) is kidnapped and subjected to rape because drug smugglers want some information from him, he refuses to aid her rather than talk. Yet by the film's end, we're expected to respect him for doing it "his way". At least, that's the way I read it. Suzuki's visuals are lacking here and while many of his movies lack argumentation and are more focused on style, it doesn't work here. With Nakahara Sanae and Takashina Kaku.