Zero Focus

Zero Focus
Zero Focus
	DVD cover
	ゼロの焦点
Directed by	Yoshitaro Nomura
Written by	Shinobu Hashimoto; Yoji Yamada; Seicho Matsumoto (novel);
Produced by	Ichinosuke Hozumi
Starring	Yoshiko Kuga
Cinematography	Takashi Kawamata
Edited by	Yoshiyasu Hamamura
Music by	Yasushi Akutagawa
Production; company	Shochiku
Distributed by	Shochiku
Release date	March 19, 1961;
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Zero Focus (ゼロの焦点, Zero no shōten) is a 1961 Japanese mystery film directed by Yoshitaro Nomura and is based on a novel by Seicho Matsumoto.^[2]^[3]

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
Koji Nambara as Kenichi Uhara
Kō Nishimura as Sotaro Uhara
Yoshi Katō as Mr. Murota
Sadako Sawamura as Sotaro'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[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Zero Focus". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
^ Jump up to: ^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 (101th anniversary of film director Yoshitaro Nomura)". Cinenouveau (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
^ "12th Blue Ribbon Awards" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 1 February 2021.

External links[]

Zero Focus at IMDb
Zero Focus at Rotten Tomatoes
Zero Focus at AllMovie
Zero Focus at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)

[jmdb-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Zero Focus". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 February 2021.

[kotobank-2] Jump up to: ^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.

[3] "ゼロの焦点 (101th anniversary of film director Yoshitaro Nomura)". Cinenouveau (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 February 2021.

[cinemahochi1961-4] "12th Blue Ribbon Awards" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 1 February 2021.

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