In his first year on television, Furuhata Ninzaburô has investigated murders in a theatre, a movie studio, a TV studio, and now a radio station. Writer Kôki Mitani's interest in the media and the mechanics of their production continues in this rather humorous take on the "unbreakable alibi" trope so prevalent in Japanese detective fiction. The twist is that, in this show's typical style, the solution is far less interesting than the methods used to get there and Mitani gets a lot of comedic mileage out of Furuhata making his hapless sidekick Shinatoro run up and down the labyrinthine radio station. As always, it is enormously entertaining to watch Masakazu Tamura and Masahiko Nishimura seize the opportunity for slapstick comedy and wring out every last drop of humour from it.
The guest star this time 'round is Kaori Momoi who turns in one of the most subdued performances as the sly radio DJ. There isn't nearly as much interplay between her and Furuhata as I would have liked but the scene in which she cajoles him to be a guest on her radio show is delightfully witty. For the most part, however, Momoi plays an unusually menacing villain who carries herself with frostiness and petulance. Her on-air persona, on the other hand, is jocular and friendly and seeing the ease with which she switches between the two modes is fascinating.
The director is Hidetomo Matsuda who turns in another sleek, exciting episode. Of the three episodes he's directed so far, this one is the most imaginative and stylish. The murder scene especially is atmospheric and unusual, set to the romantic tune of Salvatore Adamo's "Sans toi mam mie". I do wish that like in "Broadcast Murder", however, more attention was paid to the reality of the behind-the-scenes process of one such a show. There are a lot of technicians going about their business in the background but Matsuda never lingers on what exactly they're doing. Considering that only three years later Mitano would revisit the radio station setting in his film "Welcome Back, Mr McDonald" I would hazard to say he thought the same.
The guest star this time 'round is Kaori Momoi who turns in one of the most subdued performances as the sly radio DJ. There isn't nearly as much interplay between her and Furuhata as I would have liked but the scene in which she cajoles him to be a guest on her radio show is delightfully witty. For the most part, however, Momoi plays an unusually menacing villain who carries herself with frostiness and petulance. Her on-air persona, on the other hand, is jocular and friendly and seeing the ease with which she switches between the two modes is fascinating.
The director is Hidetomo Matsuda who turns in another sleek, exciting episode. Of the three episodes he's directed so far, this one is the most imaginative and stylish. The murder scene especially is atmospheric and unusual, set to the romantic tune of Salvatore Adamo's "Sans toi mam mie". I do wish that like in "Broadcast Murder", however, more attention was paid to the reality of the behind-the-scenes process of one such a show. There are a lot of technicians going about their business in the background but Matsuda never lingers on what exactly they're doing. Considering that only three years later Mitano would revisit the radio station setting in his film "Welcome Back, Mr McDonald" I would hazard to say he thought the same.
