Escape From Japan

Yoshishige Yoshida's pulpy crime action film Escape From Japan (1964) feels as if it could be a Seijun Suzuki film. I suppose it has something to do with the bold primary colors used in the color production. It is several genre films at once-it opens like a heist film then there's a tense moral standoff after the crime goes awry in velodrome basement. Then it's a lovers on the run. None of the story line was very satisfying to, and the acting is way over the top with lots of screaming and maniacal laughing. There is some impressive cinematography and the jazzy score was composed by one of the Japanese masters Toru Takemitsu. I always enjoy seeing postwar close up on location like we see in this film and other cultural tidbits-like the fact the female romantic interest worked at a "Turko Bath"-which was  euphemism for brothels that a Turkish diplomat complained about and were later re-named "Soaplands"-which still exist today. The films opens and closes with an avante garde shot of artist Taro Okamoto painting on glass. Apparently, Yoshida left Shochiku Studios after this film and went independent because they cut the last reel, which was supposed to show the lead insane in a jail cell-I'm not sure that would have helped this film at all. All in all, I have to say this is my least favorite Yoshida film to date, but not without merit.