Jo Shishido is not Anthony Quinn. This may seem obvious but going into Koreyoshi Kurahara’s “Glass Johnny: Looks Like a Beast” knowing that it’s “inspired by” Federico Fellini’s “La Strada” and having seen the Stay-Puft studio maverick in several of Japan Society’s “No Borders, No Limits: 1960s Nikkatsu Action Cinema” titles made me wonder how well the man with the airbag-size cheeks could fill in Zampano’s shoes. Obviously I got distracted (and who can blame me considering how imminently pinchable Shishido’s implants look?) by an inconsequential detail because the real question I should’ve been asking was if Kurahara had it in him to make a film competent enough to stand on its own two feet. I mean, we all know Giuletta Massina’s legendary gunplay predates Chow Yun-Fat’s sliding down banisters in slow motion with two guns blazing so the transition to a Japanese studio action flick shouldn’t be that bumpy, right?

Well, not as such. Shishido plays Joe, a stocky muscleman type with a black-and-white shirt (dig that homage!) whose world turns upside down when he rescues Yoshie (Izumi Ashikawa) as she flees from the pimp that her mother sold her to. Instantly enamored by Joe’s kindness, Yoshie stares goggle-eyed after her saviour, asking Joe’s ex what he does for a living. “He’s crazy,” his ex replies, which actually kind of makes sense. Any man trying to make it rich by training a bike rider and then selling bets on the poor kid has to be abnormal, at the very least. Mad love ensues as Shishido’s money trouble leads him to do just the thing that he knows he shouldn’t, namely sell Yoshie back into prostitution to settle his debts.

The pair’s hard-knock lifestyle recalls Robert Bresson’s “Pickpocket” in its depiction of the crowd as an unfeeling enemy of the people. Bystanders guffaw as Joe shakes Yoshie off his tail and stare silently as her pimp shakes her down. The film’s first hour feels so oppressive because Kurahara knows just when to pull back and when to get up-close. His copious tracking shots and extreme close-ups of the pair with their faces squashed against chain-link fences are some of the best direction in any of the titles featured in “No Borders” thus far. His concern with framing the characters’ anguish better than even the actors can sometimes (Shishido’s mustache-twirling laughter makes me cringe even now) proves him to be a director determined to go beyond the confines of both studio and genre and make a film that refuses to let his empathy for Fellini’s and his loveable waifs fade away.

The first hour on its own terms should make any viewer wonder why the film’s being showcased in “No Borders” considering that it’s not an action film nor is it a typical studio picture. The second half doesn’t offer any answers but it will make you lose whatever respect the first built up for Kurahara. Unable to say goodbye to his characters, he has Yoshie crawl back to her pimp because of a cobbled-together, pseudo-psychological dream she had about a poet who walks into the sea after telling her about “Glass Johnny.” It makes less sense in context so if you can’t go with it now, don’t bother trying later. As Joe and Yoshie scramble around without any direction—literally, the story just feels like a sorry means of keeping the camera on them without any good reason; somewhere, a young Zhang Yimou takes notes—the story becomes a search for Yoshie’s “Johnny.” But is he the pimp? The sea? Joe? That train barreling down on top of her head that brakes a few feet in front of her? I vote for the last option but judging by the lack of audible disgust from last night’s audience, I’m guessing the crowd and I aren’t in agreement.

“No Borders, No Limits” wraps up next month with Yasuharu Hasebe’s “Roughneck” starring Akira Kobayashi and Jo Shishido (ONE! MORE! TIME!). “Roughneck” will be shown on Friday May 2nd at 7:30pm at Japan Society (47th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue). Discounted $4.50 student tickets are as always available to the first 20 students so snatch them tickets up fast before you have to pay the regular student price of…$7.00? Wotta deal! For more info on “Roughneck” and “No Border, No Limits,” click here.

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Arts, Film