Movie
Freelance reporter “Scoop” Machida is hot on the trail of a prostitution ring called the Black Line, when he is framed for the murder of a young woman. Forced to clear his own name, the handsome journalist sinks deeper into the Black Line’s rotten swamp of drugs, prostitution, and murder and finds unexpected help in Maya, a steamy female gambler familiar with the neon-lit streets, shadowy alleyways, and seedy nightclubs he must navigate. The closest film in the Line series to classic American film noir, Ishii’s Black Line is a pulpy assortment of crime film conventions including the starkly expressionistic black and white cinematography by Jûgyô Yoshida, a jazzy music score by Michiaki Watanabe, and a sleazy screenplay by Ishii and Ichirô Miyagawa.
Koji Machida
Misako
Maya
Goro Torii
Reiko Onuma
Chiaki
Kaneko Sano
Hotel manager
Joe
Yukichi Tachibana
Photo seller
Taizo
Kayoko (gay boy)
Hotel maid Tokiko
Kayo
Emi Hamaguchi
Kyôko
Singapore (waitress)
Ranko Kuroki
Old man at boat store
Sabu
Manager
Namikawa
Old man at mannequin store
Gay boy B
Policeman
Grocery store clerk
Detective Kondo
Detective Suzuki
Detective Inoue