Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: TORAO [Austin Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]

The texture of investigation and the idea of circumstance take on a reflexive element in "Torao". Writer/Director Kazuya Murayama does an interesting play of real life though the results are mixed. The concept of what it is is actually more dynamic than it turns out too be. Torao is the lead and the name of the actual investigating detective of a murder back in 1992 in Japan…and he plays himself so it is a forward thinking meta structure without making the audience aware in the film. The case took place in the same place Murayama grew up. What is interesting is that it seems he made this film all on his own. Certain aspects of the cinematography are interesting and there is a verite element to it. Torao himself is fantastic with a steely gruffness though the dialogue is many times matter-of-fact. The scenes when he teaches a young university student about the rules of investigation are interesting enough.

The issue is that the lead actress is not very dynamic ultimately compared to him. She comes off mousy which undeniably is part of the poit but some true dramatic range on her part would go a long way. Her acting is very flat. The resolve (or unresolve per se if you will) at the end has raw power to it but it never quite moves. The aspect almost of real people (they might just be real people) recounting ideas of what they saw or what they know about the case is a different approach but might have been done through necessity. An essence of community perspective is what comes through but, besides the idea of the pool and its metaphor, we, as the audience, don't truly get a sense of the city. A jump scene, meant as a flashback though it takes a second or two to register because of jump cut in the woods, isn't initially as clear as it should be. The filming highlighted in this scene with the rain is some of the best in the film. Unfortunately the rest of the film is mostly static (even a low angle or Dutch might have worked). Again Murayama tackles an interesting subject on a restricted budget and what seems mostly like non-actors so this element has to be taken into account maybe for future progress. B-

By Tim Wassberg