Previously at the ICA - Films

Yoshitaro Nomura, Zero Focus, 1961

Yoshitaro Nomura Film Season: Zero Focus

19 Apr 2014

Zero Focus has the most overtly film noir stylings of all Nomura’s films – it's all voiceover, revelations, duplicitous characters, and has a general sense of unease. It’s also the one most clearly indebted to Alfred Hitchcock, with a dual-identity plot and elevated showdowns reminiscent of both Vertigo and Rebecca, plus a Bernard Hermann-like score.

Teiko has only been married to her ambitious salesman husband Kenichi for a week before he leaves to tie up business in coastal Kanazawa. He promptly disappears, and so Teiko treks off to find him. She uncovers a murder plot against a legacy of wartime prostitution, stigma and shame. A great example of Japan’s noir boom, this is the first of two film versions, the latter was released in Japan in 2009.

Zero Focus, dir Yoshitarô Nomura, Japan 1961, 95 mins, b/w, subtitles, 16mm/digital, cert 12A

Please note that all films are 18+ unless otherwise stated. The feature will start approximately 15 minutes after the listed start time.

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