The Magic Hour

A port town called Sukago. Bingo, a small-time hustler, is caught with the gang boss's woman. To save himself he tells a lie: that he knows the legendary hitman Della Togashi and can produce him. He knows no such person. His way out is to hire an out-of-work actor and tell him it is a film. The man then walks around in the middle of a real gang, among real guns, believing he is playing the part of his life. Koki Mitani directs; two hours and sixteen minutes. Satoshi Tsumabuki plays the actor and Koichi Sato plays Bingo. Mitani came out of the theatre, and the film is constructed throughout like a stage comedy, with a great many jokes about cinema inside it.