While it is quite common for films to be passion projects for their respective directors, it is less heard of that an actor is the creative force behind a film. Yokohama BJ Blues is an example of the latter. Yusaku Matsuda, known from his unforgettable performance in the Game trilogy – The Most Dangerous Game (1978), The Killing Game (1978), and The Execution Game (1979) – conceived the idea for the narrative, asking Shoichi Maruyama to turn it into a screenplay and requesting Eiichi Kudo, a samurai movie veteran who also dabbled in Yakuza film, to direct the feature.

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Besides utilizing Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye (1971) as an inspiration, Matsuda also utilized his hard-boiled narrative to show off his blues singing skills on the silver screen. It, thus, comes as no surprise that Matsuda Yusaku’s third album, HARDEST DAY, which was released four days before the film’s release in cinema,features a cover photo of Matsuda posing as the main character BJ.

Yokohama BJ Blues commences when BJ (Yusaku Matsuda), a private investigator and part-time blues singer, is contacted by his best friend Muku (Yuya Uchida), a police detective. Mere minutes after confessing that he fears for his life because his moral corruption has come to light and a full-scale inquiry will be launched into his dealings with the Family, he is shot in cold blood. While BJ is promptly arrested by Muku’s partner Beniya (Michihiro Yamanishi), he is released from his confinement cell due to a lack of evidence. Armed with one clue – i.e. only Tatsuo Ali (-) from the Family is known to have the Python .357 Magnum used to fire the deadly 170-grain round bullet, he promptly starts his own investigation to clear his name.

Yokohama BJ Blues is a narrative that delves into what remains unseen from yet disturbs, like big rippling raindrops, the societal surface. The Japanese Other, this peaceful anhedonic space, is continually plagued by the excesses of enjoyment (i.e. alcoholism, sexual thirsts – heterosexual as well as homosexual, mindless club-dancing, drug-abuse, physical violence, … etc.) and ruled, from the shadows, by criminal organisations who firmly control the many forms of criminalized/criminal pleasure. 

The subjective effect of the societal shift towards narcissistic pleasure and sedative enjoyment is echoed within the narrative by emphasizing relational troubles and the difficulty to make any meaningful connection with the other. The focus on capitalistic enjoyment in Yokohama BJ Blues successfully illustrates the sabotaging and hollowing effect of pleasure on subjective and inter-subjective functioning. The reduction of inter-subjective connections to mere imaginary exchanges of pleasure infuses an easy-to-provoke rivalry within interactions and the thirst for enjoyment marking the subject forces him to reduce its partner to an object-of-enjoyment – an object-to-enjoy.

The interactions between BJ and Akira (Koji Tanaka) are, however, of a different order. Merely because BJ is at odds with the capitalistic Other and the seduction of enjoyment it introduces, Akira can evade the reduction to a mere pristine but frail beauty-object – crystal beauty – and engage in more symmetrical speech-exchanges with BJ. For BJ, Akira is not an imaginary object of enjoyment, but an ego to converse with – from ego to object to ego to ego.  

Yokohama BJ Blues delivers an atmospheric and dreamy neo-noir, yet the lack of tension within the narrative will divide audiences. The plot unfolds in a languid and moody fashion, in accordance with BJ’s pace as he wanders through the streets of Yokohama. While the path BJ walks is clear – he searches for Ali, the secondary plot-elements are concatenated in a more evocative and associative manner. 

Whether the spectator can enjoy Matsuda’s moody neo-noir or not ultimately comes down to his ability to let himself drift on the unhurried waves of the film’s atmosphere narrative. Spectators who succeed in annulling their need for narrative tension will be able to fully appreciate the startling twists and a surprisingly emotional denouement the narrative delivers.   

The languid pace of Yokohama BJ Blues is, first and foremost, function of the deliberately paced composition. Eiichi Kudo relies on long static takes and restrained dynamism to create a visual fabric full of fleeting impressionistic sequences – visual mood pieces – and shots of BJ walking through various narrative spaces.

What gives Yokohama BJ Blues its enticing yet forlorn moodiness is the way lighting and colour are utilized within the composition (Colour-note 1). Eiichi Kudo, by reducing lightning sources to the bare minimum, imprisons his characters within a blueish visual frame infested by dark shadows. The blueish colour-scheme often gets perforated by other colours – e.g. reddish lights lined up along the road, neon-lights, certain interior lights, fire braziers, traffic lights, … etc. These decorative perforations, by being elegantly utilized within the frame by Eiichi Kudo, enhance the seductive noirish atmosphere.

This dark noirish prison, however, is not merely exploited to guide the bluesy moodiness of the narrative, but also to deliver some truly pleasing stylish visual moments. Kudo makes most of the colour-contrasts and gradations to simplify his visual frame and emphasize, in a visually satisfying way, the few lines that structure his shot-composition.

The noirish atmosphere of Yokohama BJ Blues is further enhanced by the great moody blues-flavoured rock music that burst forth into the unfolding of the narrative time to time (music-note 1). Even after the last notes have faded away, the tones and signifiers of these songs linger on in the spectator’s mind, amplifying the desolate quality of the film’s noirish atmosphere.

With Yokohama BJ Blues, Yusaku Matsuda, known for his unforgettable performance in Toru Murakawa’s Game trilogy (The Most Dangerous Game (1978), The Killing Game (1978), and The Execution Game (1979)), successfully cracks his tough action hero persona with his performance. While the narrative demands him to show his roughness, and hardboiled character, he is also given ample time to display a softer and more emotional side. And, who knew Yusaku Matsuda could sing so well? 

Yokohama BJ Blues is a narrative that works best if one goes in blind – devoid of any expectations and any prior knowledge. Kudo delivers an unhurried atmospheric neo-noirish vehicle for Yusaku Matsuda, radically undone of any form of tension. If the spectator can synchronize with BJ’s pace – a pace at odds with the demands of the narrative, he will enter a strangely satisfying world of desire marked by societal corruption and criminal appropriation.

Notes

Colour-note 1: While the blueish hue is generally present, there are some exceptions to be noted. There are more ‘naturalistic’ lighting-schemes within the composition. In these sequences, the blueish tint is often forced into the background and, in certain cases, only found within the window-frame, the transparent barriers that separate inside from outside. The disco-club scene, on the other hand, while not devoid of the occasional blue tint, offers the spectator a richer interplay of flashy colours.

There are also some scenes overlayed with a greenish hue instead of a blueish tint within the Kudo’s visual fabric.    

Music-note 1: The sequence in disco-club Linda introduces the spectator not unsurprisingly to Japanese disco-music. While disco-music is in stark contrast with the bluesy tones, Yasuka Matsuda’s performance ensures the consistency of the desolate moodiness of the film’s atmosphere.