Zero Focus

1961 Japanese film

  • Shinobu Hashimoto
  • Yoji Yamada
Based onZero no shōten
by Seicho MatsumotoProduced byIchinosuke HozumiStarringYoshiko KugaCinematographyTakashi KawamataEdited byYoshiyasu HamamuraMusic byYasushi Akutagawa
Production
company
Shochiku
Distributed byShochiku
Release date
  • 19 March 1961 (1961-03-19) (Japan)[1]
Running time
95 minutes[1]CountryJapanLanguageJapanese

Zero Focus (ゼロの焦点, Zero no shōten) is a 1961 Japanese crime drama film directed by Yoshitarō Nomura, and co-written by Shinobu Hashimoto and Yoji Yamada. It is based on the novel of the same name by Seichō Matsumoto.[2][3] A remake of the film was released in 2009.

Plot

One week into newlywed Teiko Uhara's marriage, her husband, ad agency manager Kenichi, leaves on a short business trip to Kanazawa and doesn't return. With a pair of old photographs she found among his belongings, Teiko travels across Japan to search for him, first with the help of her husband's employer, later on her own. After a series of mysterious deaths, including a reception girl of the agency's Kanazawa branch, who turns out to be Kenichi's common law wife, and Kenichi's alleged suicide, all clues lead to Sachiko Murota, wife of a wealthy business partner of her husband. Teiko confronts Mrs. Murota and blames her for murdering Kenichi and everyone who knew of her past as a prostitute in the post-war era. Yet, as Mrs. Murota's confession reveals, the truth is even more complex than that.

Cast

  • Yoshiko Kuga as Teiko Uhara
  • Hizuru Takachiho as Sachiko Murota / Emmy
  • Ineko Arima as Hisako Tanuma / Sally
  • Koji Nambara as Kenichi Uhara / Masuzaburo Sone
  • Kō Nishimura as Sōtarō Uhara
  • Yoshi Katō as Gisaku Murota
  • Sadako Sawamura as Sōtarō's wife
  • Takanobu Hozumi as Mr. Honda

Awards

Legacy

Seicho Matsumoto's novel was again adapted in 2009 by Isshin Inudō with Ryōko Hirosue as Teiko Uhara.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Zero Focus". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b "ゼロの焦点とは (Zero Focus novel)". Kotobank デジタル辞典 (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  3. ^ "ゼロの焦点 (101st anniversary of film director Yoshitaro Nomura)". Cinenouveau (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  4. ^ "12th Blue Ribbon Awards" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2021.

External links

  • v
  • t
  • e
Films directed by Yoshitaro Nomura
  • Izu no odoriko (1954)
  • Stakeout (1958)
  • Zero Focus (1961)
  • Castle of Sand (1974)
  • The Incident (1978)
  • The Demon (1978)
  • Suspicion (1982)