Zero Focus
Zero no shôten (original title)
● LATE NOIR (1960s) / JAPANESE NOIR
1961, Japan, 95m, BW, Crime-Drama-Mystery Screenplay Shinobu Hashimoto, Yoji Yamada (based on the novel by Seiko Matsumoto) Producer Ichinosuke Hozumi Photography Takashi Kawamata Editor Yoshiyasu Hamamura Music Yasushi Akutagawa Cast Yoshiko Kuga, Hizuru Takachiho, Ineko Arima, Koji Nanbara, Ko Nishimura, Sadako Sawamura, Yoshi Kato, Tatsuo Nagai, Mutsuko Sakura, Takanobu Hozumi.
● LATE NOIR (1960s) / JAPANESE NOIR
1961, Japan, 95m, BW, Crime-Drama-Mystery Screenplay Shinobu Hashimoto, Yoji Yamada (based on the novel by Seiko Matsumoto) Producer Ichinosuke Hozumi Photography Takashi Kawamata Editor Yoshiyasu Hamamura Music Yasushi Akutagawa Cast Yoshiko Kuga, Hizuru Takachiho, Ineko Arima, Koji Nanbara, Ko Nishimura, Sadako Sawamura, Yoshi Kato, Tatsuo Nagai, Mutsuko Sakura, Takanobu Hozumi.
"A gorgeous film with excellent performances, sumptuous visuals, and a hauntingly beautiful score, Zero Focus isn't a B-movie crime story in the Nikkatsu mold (i.e. over-the-top and violent), it's more akin to Kurosawa's contemplative forays into noir around the same time. Adhering to Matsumoto’s novel, it's a labyrinth that deepens with every scene without ever losing sight of its characters. The writer Peter Nellhaus has observed that the plot unfolds like a Cornell Woolrich story. Very true—though Zero Focus has a stronger ending than most Woolrich stories. The shattering conclusion here, in fact, might be better than any conclusion Woolrich ever wrote." - Jake Hinkson (Criminal Element)
Zodiac
● NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
2007, USA, 158m, Col, Crime-Drama-Thriller
Screenplay James Vanderbilt (based on the books Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked by Robert Graysmith) Producers Arnold Messer, Brad Fischer, Ceán Chaffin, James Vanderbilt, Mike Medavoy Photography Harris Savides Editor Angus Wall Music David Shire Cast Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch, Richmond Arquette, Bob Stephenson, John Lacy, Chloe Sevigny.
2007, USA, 158m, Col, Crime-Drama-Thriller
Screenplay James Vanderbilt (based on the books Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked by Robert Graysmith) Producers Arnold Messer, Brad Fischer, Ceán Chaffin, James Vanderbilt, Mike Medavoy Photography Harris Savides Editor Angus Wall Music David Shire Cast Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch, Richmond Arquette, Bob Stephenson, John Lacy, Chloe Sevigny.
"Zodiac is the All the President's Men of serial killer movies, with Woodward and Bernstein played by a cop and a cartoonist. It's not merely "based" on California's infamous Zodiac killings, but seems to exude the very stench and provocation of the case. The killer, who was never caught, generously supplied so many clues that Sherlock Holmes might have cracked the case in his sitting room. But only a newspaper cartoonist was stubborn enough, and tunneled away long enough, to piece together a convincing case against a man who was perhaps guilty. The film is a police procedural crossed with a newspaper movie, but free of most of the cliches of either. Its most impressive accomplishment is to gather a bewildering labyrinth of facts and suspicions over a period of years, and make the journey through this maze frightening and suspenseful." - Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert.com