Zero Focus
- Shinobu Hashimoto
- Yoji Yamada
by Seicho Matsumoto
company
- 19 March 1961 (1961-03-19) (Japan)[1]
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
- 1961 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actress (Hizuru Takachiho)[4]
Legacy
Seicho Matsumoto's novel was again adapted in 2009 by Isshin Inudō with Ryōko Hirosue as Teiko Uhara.[2]
References
- ^ a b "Zero Focus". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "ゼロの焦点 (101st anniversary of film director Yoshitaro Nomura)". Cinenouveau (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ "12th Blue Ribbon Awards" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
External links
- Zero Focus at IMDb
- Zero Focus at Rotten Tomatoes
- Zero Focus at AllMovie
- v
- t
- e
- Izu no odoriko (1954)
- Stakeout (1958)
- Zero Focus (1961)
- Castle of Sand (1974)
- The Incident (1978)
- The Demon (1978)
- Suspicion (1982)