Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

"Osen chitai" aka "Yellow Line 1960 This Japanese production is really something to behold. It blasts onto the screen and just keeps going at speed.Freelance hit-man, Shigeru Amachi, takes a contract to bump off a customs inspector. He does the job, but as he is leaving the area, he sees the Police arriving. It seems that the mob decided it was cheaper to rat him out to the Police, than pay him. This turns out to be a bad mistake.Amachi manages to evade the Police by grabbing a young woman out of a street phone booth. He uses the woman, Yôko Mihara, as cover to get away. The girl is a dancer on her way to Kobe to work at one of the clubs. The two end up taking the train to Kobe. The girl however has tossed one of her distinctive red shoes out onto the train platform. And as it so happens, her boyfriend, Teruo Yoshida, was at the station to see why her call to him was cut off.Yoshida is a reporter with a Tokyo paper. He of course smells a rat and is soon looking for her. He finds the red shoe and the chase is on. He is soon on his way to Kobe as well. Mihara, is not sure what to make of the Amachi. She behaves though, having had the hit-man's gun shoved in her side.The two hit Kobe and the first place they go is a shoe store. Mihara told the gunman she had lost her shoe when he dragged her onto the train. She manages to write a call the Police note on a 100 yen note as she pays for the shoes. The clerk just sticks it in the cash drawer. (This bill comes into play later)The two then end up in flea bag hotel in the red light district, a real seedy part of the city known as "The Casbah". It is all clip joints, drug dealers and working girls. Being a port city, there is plenty of call for the ladies of the night. The boyfriend, Yoshida, is desperate to find his girl. He fears she has been grabbed up to be sold into prostitution.Now everyone ends up playing a big game of cat and mouse. Amachi is out to get even with the mob boys, the reporter, Yoshida wants his girl and Mihara just wants to get away. They are all soon crisscrossing the city while just missing each other. The bodies start to pile up as Amachi works his way through the mob connections.This one is well worth the time spent to see how it all ends. It goes quite fast with only a 79 minute runtime. A top flight bit of Japanese noir, even if it was filmed in colour.