The previous reviewer describes this police procedural as a "slow burn". I disagree. To me, it's a no burn. Assuming, of course, that the word "burn" implies dramatic tension, conflict or, dare I even say it? Action, while the word "slow" means that EVENTUALLY such essential ingredients to a successful cop movie will occur. Well, I gave this somnolent stray dog an hour and ten minutes and, in lieu of action, I got lots of...linguistics. And trains. And train stations. And endless talk of a place called Kameda. The only thing approaching an actual physical altercation was a butthole on...where else?...a train, who is slow to move his feet out of the aisle in front of the homicide detective hero. Oh, and a fairly realistic, bludgeoned dead body found in a rail yard (where else?). And it's not as if the two detectives or the folks they interview provide us with interesting quirks of character to relieve the general flatness of tone and boredom of mood. Aside from the older detective's penchant for writing mediocre poetry the people in this film are pretty much talking heads. Maybe the best selling novel by Seicho Matsumoto, from which this film is adapted, is fresh and compelling but Yoshitaro Nomura's film is as stale as store bought sushi. Solid C.
Review of The Castle of Sand
