I Hate But Love (Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1962)

8/10
The more I dig in, the more the Nikkatsu studios are starting to seem like an endless treasure trove of wildness in Japanese film. I didn't know much about this one going in, but it's startlingly vibrant (especially juxtaposed with what preceded it - see above). The crooked-teeth Nikkatsu star Yujiro Ishihara plays a TV star with a non-stop schedule, kept strictly by his manager and semi-girlfriend (the couple have a no sex pact), the crooked-teeth Ruriko Asaoka. Increasingly dissatisfied with his celebrity life and questioning the meaning of love, Ishihara meets a woman who needs a driver to bring her cross-country lover his Jeep for the hospital he works at. Ishihara, blown away by the concept of long-distance love and searching to do something selfless and "humanitary", forsakes his contracts and TV appearances to drive the Jeep. His manager tracks him across the country, as do reporters and the general public, with opinion swaying from national deserter to folk hero. The movie calms down in the second half when it becomes more of a road movie, and also gets surprisingly dark at times. But it's always interesting, frequently funny, and pretty far out there.

I Am Waiting (Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1957)

6.5/10
First film in the recently-purchased Nikkatsu Noir boxset from Criterion's Eclipse series, this one from 1957 being one of the first hits for the studio. It centres around an ex-boxer searching for his brother and his relationship with a mysterious singer with a Yakuza-related past, and the inevitable ties between the two. The movie jumps through a lot of hoops to set up the predicted final showdown between the main character and the Yakuza boss and the payoff suffers because of it. Unfortunately, the movie reveals its simplicity the more the plot unwinds, but it's well directed, competently acted, and an interesting watch.