From the new Eclipse set, The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara. Criterion had previously released a Kurahara film, I Am Waiting, in their Nikkatsu Noir Eclipse set (one of the absolute must-haves from the Eclipse series). This new set is almost a follow-up to that one, with five Nikkatsu films by Kurahara. Intimidation is a tight little crime flick, running only 65 minutes. Nobuo Kaneko is a bank manager who has embezzled a bunch of money from his bank. Kojiro Kusanagi plays a blackmailer who has discovered this. He attempts to make Kaneko rob his own bank. In the process, Kaneko humiliates the night manager, Ko Nishimura (who gives a wonderful performance), a high school friend of his who frequently finds himself under Kaneko's boot. The most notable thing about the film are its two exquisite bank robbery set-pieces. The first is a dream, filmed entirely in a POV shot, Lady in the Lake-style. The actual robbery is almost entirely silent, as Kaneko, his face hidden behind a bandanna, cannot make a sound lest he be identified, forces Nishimura at gunpoint to help him complete his mission. It's a gripping, beautifully realized sequence. The theme of class is prevalent throughout the film with the relationship between Kaneko and Nishimura. The story itself is kind of flawed and not especially believable, unfortunately. It also grinds to a halt after the awesome robbery sequence, drowning itself in a ton of expository dialogue. The kernels of this film definitely could have grown into something fantastic. As it is, it's a good little noir.
Review of Intimidation
