Now available from Radiance Films
A bar blues singer and private eye ends up blamed for the death of a friend.
Written by Shoichi Maruyama and directed by Eiichi Kudô, Yokohama BJ Blues is a moody, quiet mystery-crime-drama that has a few odd scenes, but overall creates a world for itself that works well and characters that are well-developed and given full humanity, good and bad, to help create a connection to the viewer. The writing here is strong and the direction is skillful, masterful even. The story here is gloomy, the mystery is interesting, and the characters feel fully fleshed.
The cast here is led by Yûsaku Matsuda as BJ who makes the character part of himself, giving a performance that feels incredibly natural and is nuanced just right. His performance is one that is deep, clearly connected to the actor, and done with passion for the material. His work guides the film from start to finish, helping set the mood, and connecting to the viewer. Joining him are Hyôe Enoki, Mari Henmi, and a very talented supporting cast. Each give performances that are on point and strong, giving the story a backbone to fall back on whenever needed.
The film has a sort of extra character here in the soundtrack. This soundtrack here is clearly carefully curated with Matsuda doing some of the singing in the bar sequences. The lack of a score around those songs and in quieter moments come off as a powerful audio choice to leave the emptiness empty and allow the story and characters to speak for itself. The soundtrack adds enough sound and emotion that the score is not needed here.
The cinematography by Seizô Sengen (and team) is as carefully crafted as the soundtrack is carefully curated. There is though put into each image, each light settings, and each frame shot. The work here is careful, planned, calculated, and yet almost free looking once on the screen. The editing by Osamu Tanaka is also quite careful, giving scenes room to breathe and cutting at just the right time to create the right mood and effect while allowing the characters to be.
Yokohama BJ Blues is a violently quiet film with a strong mood and atmosphere, one that takes the viewer on a ride with the lead. The film is one that deserves to be seen at least once and many will want to see it many times over to pour over the details in the story, the characters, and the background elements.
This new release by Radiance Films is the world premiere release of the film on Blu-ray. This Blu release boasts a solid high definition transfer, good quality sound, and a lot of extras. The extras standing out here are the interviews with star Mari Henmi, screenwriter Shoichi Maruyama, and Yokohama expert Toru Sano. The new cover art is also quite beautiful with a sadness to the image chosen that makes this selection the exact right one.