Pinocchio – A Man Without Nationality

Mochizuki’s second film with Ishibashi Ryo is not Yet Another Lonely Hitman. What the Toei producers clearly wanted was something along the lines of Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief: a vehicle for Ishibashi which would show off his linguistic and singing abilities (renditions of O sole mio, would you believe?) while repositioning him as a Cary Grant-in-the-rough. It has to be said that it doesn’t really work: the plot is too naff, the supporting performances are too shaky, and even the best of it lacks all conviction. None the less, it does contain pleasures for Ishibashi and Mochizuki fans.Kuroki Shinya, nicknamed ‘Pinocchio’ because ‘everybody trusts him’, slips back into Japan disguised as a Buddhist monk. During his many years in the US, he has grown involved with crime and crossed swords with the Mafia; he is in Japan to conclude a lucrative industrial espionage job. Everybody else is trying to catch him: uncouth Mafia hitmen, hysterical Taiwanese triad hitmen, the plain-clothes cop who was at school with him, and the undercover woman cop who falls in love with him after showing him how she fakes orgasms. Not to mention his ailing father (Sato Kei, a veteran of many Oshima films), who hasn’t heard from him in years. Redeeming features include a boxing schtick, a long-distance running schtick and some arresting location filming on the streets of Tokyo. (Tony Rayns)