MIKE YOKOHAMA: A FOREST WITH NO NAME (2002)

Along with Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Shinji Aoyama was also once considered a "Junkyard Dog." And while he was never as "dirty" as his friend and mentor, he did wallow in pseudo-horror and detective stories early on in his career with films like Helpless (1996), An Obsession (1997) and Shady Grove (1999) -- all worthy due to Aoyamas exquisite camerawork and his penchant for searching metaphorical expositions. (Aoyama, 41, is about 10 years younger than Kurosawa and along with studying with him under Shigehiko Hasumi, he also worked as his assistant during the mid-90s.)

And then came Eureka (2000), Aoyamas meditative 4-hr masterpiece which shook Cannes (where the film played in-competition) to its core, and made him a much sought after commodity. He returned to the festival in 2001 with another angst-ridden film called Desert Moon (Olaf Mller rightfully called it "a post-Fassbinder melodrama") but it inherited the sort of unceremonious dismissal that returning filmmakers usually receive if their new film isnt as good as the previous one. Perhaps that was something which sent Aoyama back to his roots in the following few years and hes only now made a partial comeback with his latest, Eli, Eli, lema Sebachtani? (2005), starring Tadanobu Asano.

Mike Yokohama: A Forest with No Name (Shiritsu Tantei Hama Maiku: Namae No Nai Mori) was one of the films that Aoyama made during those years. Originally conceived as an episode of a Japanese TV series based on Kaizo Hayashi's detective films, it somehow found its way to a slot at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002. The film stars a perfectly cast Masatoshi Nagase (the Elvis-lover from Jim Jarmuschs Mystery Train [1989]) as the titular character, a bumbling detective usually seen donning Studio 54-ish attire. Hes got huge debt problems so he takes on a job offered by an industrialist who only considers himself "plain-old-rich" instead of a "bourgeoisie." The job involves bringing back the mans daughter who, according to the father, has joined some sort of a cult in order to find her true self. What Mike finds, at least at the outset, is a rather peaceful compound, albeit one headed by a rather mysterious woman referred to as "the Doctor." As he tries to become part of the group in order to get close to his target, he also gets drawn to an enigmatic young woman, not to mention a mystical tree (echoes of Kurosawas Charisma [1999]) which hes told bears his resemblance.

This is decidedly a minor, even insignificant piece of work -- but, as always, Aoyamas visual compositions are interesting to say the least. The film also boasts much wry and sardonic humor in expense of these "inner-piece" searchers (one of the graduates of the center ends up being a serial-killer) along with the ubiquitous B-grade detective films, but Aoyama isnt able to develop much consistency with any theme or idea in the short running time (71 minutes!). Only the detectives conflicting individuality carries through the film (he hates it when anyone calls him anything else other than "Mike"). It does show, however, that the filmmaker had a lot of fun with the material and there are probably running gags with the TV-series that most arent able to comprehend. Heres hoping that -- much like the films protagonist -- Aoyama will also be able to find his true calling, ideally sooner than later.