The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1994)

Directed by
Smart, stylish and funny
Reviewed by Simon on 2024-01-01

The always excellent Masatoshi Nagase stars as P.I. Maiku Hama, in this stylish, smart and wicked funny noir (trilogy), also featuring a very dapper Shinya Tsukamoto in this installment.

The rich script and terrific performances make this more than just a homage, and the sharp black and white cinematography looks so good it makes you wonder why they ever bothered inventing colours... a question that the 2nd film handily answers, as it happens.

These films have only been available on long OOP non-anamorphic NTSC DVDs for many years (really limiting considering the wide aspect ratio they use), but they have been remastered in 4K for a 30th anniversary theatrical retrospective so hopefully there will be a shiny new boxset coming soon.