is a 1983 Japanese film

Cinema of Japan

The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...

 directed by Kichitaro Negishi

Kichitaro Negishi

is a Japanese film director. Although his films are admired by critics in Japan for their intelligence, Negishi has received little international recognition for his work. He has not been credited with a distinctive style but he has been called a subtle director who often elicits strong...

.

Synopsis

Naomi is a rich university student about to leave on a trip to America. Her father hires detective Shuichi Tsujiyama to watch over her, a situation that pleases neither Naomi or Shuichi. Things get complicated when Shuichi's ex-wife is suspected in the murder of a love hotel

Love hotel

A love hotel is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing couples privacy for sexual activities...

 manager. Naomi and Shuichi join up to investigate the murder which may involve yakuza

Yakuza

, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...

 gangsters.

Cast

• Hiroko Yakushimaru
  Hiroko Yakushimaru
  is a Japanese actress and vocalist.After passing the audition for the film produced by Haruki Kadokawa, she began her acting career. Along with teen idols Tomoyo Harada and Noriko Watanabe who made debut after a similar process, she was often described as one of "Kadokawa Sannimusume" in her early...
  
   as Naomi Arai
• Yusaku Matsuda
  Yusaku Matsuda
  was a Japanese actor. Yusaku was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi to a Zainichi Korean mother. His father is not known. His date was wrongly recorded as 1950 on his birth records due to a parental error in filing a report.-Career:...
  
   as Shuichi Tsujiyama as Yukiko Naoki
• Kyōko Kishida
  Kyoko Kishida
  was a Japanese actress, voice actress, and writer of children's books.Her father was Kunio Kishida, a playwright and the founder of the Bungaku-za. She became an actress in 1950, and starred in a Yukio Mishima production of the 1960 film Salome. Her film and television drama credits number in the...
  
   as Kimie Hasenuma as Yutaka Nagai as Masako Shindo as Wada as the Love hotel
  Love hotel
  A love hotel is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing couples privacy for sexual activities...
  
   manager

Background

Detective Story, director Negishi's third mainstream film, was based on a novel by mystery writer Jirō Akagawa

Jiro Akagawa

is a Japanese novelist born in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.- Biography :Best known for his humorous mysteries, Akagawa's first novel, Ghost Train, was published in 1976 and went on to win the annually granted All Yomimono New Mystery Writers' Prize by Bungeishunjū, a Japanese literary...

. Lead actor Yusaku Matsuda

Yusaku Matsuda

was a Japanese actor. Yusaku was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi to a Zainichi Korean mother. His father is not known. His date was wrongly recorded as 1950 on his birth records due to a parental error in filing a report.-Career:...

 also played the role of a detective (Shunsaku Kudo) in the 1979-1980 TV series Tantei Monogatari (Detective Story) but the film is unrelated to the TV series. The film was released in Japan on VHS tape in December 1989, and as a DVD in December 2000.

Awards and nominations

8th Hochi Film Award

Hochi Film Award

The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by the Hochi Shimbun.- Categories :*Best Picture*Best International Picture*Best Actor*Best Actress*Best Supporting Actor*Best Supporting Actress*Best New Artist*Special Award*Best Director- Winner :...

• Won: Best Actor – Yusaku Matsuda
  Yusaku Matsuda
  was a Japanese actor. Yusaku was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi to a Zainichi Korean mother. His father is not known. His date was wrongly recorded as 1950 on his birth records due to a parental error in filing a report.-Career:...