Black Tight Killers

Yasuharu Hasebe's 1966 Japanese film opens with Daisuke, a war photographer returning from Vietnam. The stewardess he meets on the plane soon becomes the target of assassination attempts and Daisuke steps in. The attackers are a group of women dressed in black. The film does not take this seriously; their weapons are made from chewing gum, records and combs, and the fights are deliberately absurd. The studio was producing fast youth pictures at the time and the film belongs to that strain. The colours are bright, the cutting quick and the music carries the pop sound of the period. The narrative looks for no logic. Who it's for: those who like Japanese genre cinema of the sixties and pop aesthetics. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a coherent plot; the film is built entirely on pace.