百货战警

　　家住北九州小仓的柳田正夫关口宏 饰和桐子山口百惠 饰是一对父母早亡自幼相依为命的苦命兄妹某天正夫被指控为一起抢劫杀人案的嫌疑人遭到逮捕证据确凿的情况下老实木讷的小学教师正夫百口莫辩坚信哥哥清白的桐子辗转来到东京拜访声名显赫的精英律师大冢钦三三国连太郎 饰为哥哥担任无罪辩护眼里只认钱的大冢冷淡回绝了走投无路的桐子这一幕刚好被社会周刊的记者阿部启一三浦友和 饰看在眼里阿部帮桐子百般疏通并竭力调查案件真相却最终无法改变正夫被执行死刑的命运桐子的人生也跌入谷底与之相对高高在上的大冢春风得意恣意享受奢靡高贵的人生却没意识到自己的命运也生活在底层的小人物所左右……
　　本片根据推理作家松本清张的同名原作改编

　　Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley#39;s early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career
　　Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality though using sex for several years; obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich eg, her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude but unseen work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc
　　As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone quot;I#39;m a mechanicquot;, yet the symbolism is rich he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy is, in fact a virgin, and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played
　　The scene between Josh and Jane a wonderful, young Edie Falco quot;You need a woman not a girlquot; is hilarious real But Hartley can#39;t leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue overandover becomes frustratingly quot;artyquot; and annoying until again it becomes hilarious What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film like kids in a perpetual quot;am notquot;/quot;are tooquot; argument
　　Hartley#39;s weaves all of a small neighborhood#39;s idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the quot;unbelievable truthquot; of the title is, yet no two people can agree including our hero on what exactly that truth is A wonderful little movie with some big ideas