The late Japanese noir Intimidation (1960) features two middle-aged guys, childhood buddies who now work at the same provincial bank, and each of them is darker than they first seem.
Takita (Nobuo Kaneko), the assistant branch manager, is confident and jovial, with the look of a man on the rise. Indeed, his promotion to the main office is being celebrated with an office party. But the sunny Takita is a backstabber, who has married the bank president’s daughter after taking her from his boyhood pal Nakaike. And, under the nose of his clueless supervisor, he has been embezzling from the bank.
To all appearances, it looks like Takita is going to get away with it all – riding a lucky streak all the way to succeeding his father-in-law as the bank’s top man. But someone has recognized a vulnerability, and Takita faces a blackmail threat.
The socially awkward Nakaike (Ko Nishimura) is a mere clerk at the bank, and is often in the humiliating position of acting as Takita’s flunky. Even worse, his wife is Takita’s discard ex-girlfriend, who continually berates Nakaike for being a loser. It seems that Nakaike is a dupe, a patsy destined to always be run over; but is he quietly keeping score, counting up his grievances and waiting for a chance at retribution?
Once Takita becomes desperate to cover up his misdeeds, Intimidation becomes a thriller, with a gripping bank robbery set piece, followed by some unpredictable, and deeply noir, plot twists.
It’s an ingenious screenplay by writers Osamu Kawase and Kyo Takigawa. Director Koreyoshi Kurahara tells the story in a brisk 105 minutes and maximizes the impact of the final twist in movie’s last five seconds.
Intimidation is available to stream on the Criterion Channel.
