THE ART OF BLACKMAILER

A film with beautiful music and a pleasant retro style. But the plot felt too twisted, with too many explanations, and the characters seemed a bit superficial. Thank you!

The film feels like it was pulled straight out of the golden age of Japanese noir — sharp shadows, restrained tension, and the protagonist’s predatory presence. Loved the style and the clear homage to Nikkatsu classics.

At first I thought, Okay, another noir with people pointing guns.But then - bam! the tension and mind games sucked me right in. Really cool.

I enjoyed the stylized feel of this and the slick, well-oiled dialogue.

THE ART OF [A] BLACKMAILER Sugoii desu yo! Subarashii! What a cinematic gem! What a delightful, tasty treat - this black-and-white short film, which might be better translated into English as “THE ART OF BLACKMAIL.” I highly recommend this film and am so satisfied with every minute that I witnessed of its cinematic strengths. Well done! Truly. I was SO delighted to see a Japanese film in this 6th Annual Festival line up and a Japanese film that was in every way authentically ‘Japanese.’ I studied Japanese Film at the University of British Columbia, and myself have a collection of films by the late Mizoguchi Kenji San, Ozu Yasujirô San, and Kurosawa Akira San. I can say, with a measure of qualification, that your film, THE ART OF [A] BLACKMAILER, was an honorable ode or homage to the crime genre films - yes - but to many Japanese films of the 30s and 40s. As far as the genre goes, I believe that you would have made Kitano Takeshi San and - especially - the late Itami Jûzô glad! You so captured the original aesthetic of the Japanese crime films of the early decades that both Kitano San and Itami San drew from. Bravo! Specifically, the strengths of this film are its picture editing (some perfectly timed cuts and effects choices), its casting, its directorial composition and quirkiness measured against dead-pan delivery, its cinematography (especially its exterior shots - many of which looked like they were right out of a Kurosawa San no film!) and its screenwriting! I’m not sure about the original dialogue (my Japanese is too poor - hontonii gomenasai) however the English found in the subtitles was an “ART” of its own. Some really snappy, original and perfectly timed lines. ブラボー！ The constructive criticism to offer: the sound mixing might have been reviewed a bit more. I really loved the music score and how it synched all the scenes together, whilst also teleporting us back many decades, but the music was often overpowering the dialogue (not always, but at times). Moreover, some of the sound effects felt wrong or off, and too loud, but maybe that was intentional so as to draw viewers back to Japanese cinema of yesteryear? I do like the scratchy, old feel to the background noise, so why not put some matching ‘scratches’ and hairs on the visual too? My one editing request is that the time-distorted jump cut between the thug on floor being tortured for information and THE CONNECTING shot of the telephone and its ringing TO THE shot of the fourth man entering the scene with the three… it needed a little more narrative assistance so as to not lurch viewers out of the tight narrative. I’d recommend, perhaps, drawing that moment out another 5-seconds or so, and putting a voice over of what the start of that call might have sounded like, what dialogue would have so necessitated the imminent arrival of the fourth man. Yes? Something like that, anyway.

Other than that, I really wanted to see gunfire and more prowess in the handgun handling. I feel that no one on set had any handgun experience. And when we’re to believe that a handgun has just fired, we’re going to see SMOKE! And how much that smoke will accentuate these already cool scenes. However, maybe this artificial gun play was another intentional direction, in order to take viewers back? And speaking of smoke, a little haze on those interior scenes would add to the cinematography, and give it more mood. At any rate, Matsuyama Yosuke San has done a very impressive job at transporting viewers back to the old days of Japanese cinema, and made a stunning splash at doing so within the realms of the Crime Genre too. To all your future work in cinema: oshigotto ganbatte ne! With all respect… grant gladish
Writer, Producer, Editor
THE LAST RECKONING

I loved it! The pace, the vibe, the style, everything worked together like a perfect noir puzzle. Would absolutely watch a full feature version.

Hell yes! The suits, the guns, the staredowns, pure old-school gangster gold. And that betrayal scene at the start? Fire.

This film need to be on Turner Classic Movies, Noir Alley! The style, the crisp & snappy dialogue, the twists and turns. It has all the classic noir vibes! I hope this gets made into a feature, we need to know more about the blackmailer. How did he get his Luger? Why the white hat? Style or a western reference (deep down he's not a bad guy)? I love this film <3

It brings back the era when men in suits settled things with a stare and a threat. True 50s–60s spirit!

The aesthetics are great, but I wanted more depth from the protagonist. He’s stylish, but a bit underdeveloped.