The Maiku Hama Trilogy

Launched to stardom by Jim Jarmuschs Mystery Train, enigmatic actor Masatoshi Nagase thrives as the hardboiled detective wannabe Maiku Hama in Kaizo Hayashis trilogy of the same name, encompassing The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1994), The Stairway to the Distant Past (1995) and The Trap (1996). Stomping through the bustling-and-hustling port city of Yokohama, Hama operates out of a run-down movie theatre and his office sees every kind of customer: from rich ladies looking for runaway pups to serial murderers who look suspiciously like himself Equal part American hardboiled detective pastiche, Seijun Suzuki-style Nikkatsu akushon send-up, and Masatoshi Nagases own new school comedic charmer, the Maiku Hama Trilogy is a cult phenomena of 90s Japanese cinema, that would go on to inspire many and spawn its own anthology NTV television series The Private Detective Mike by 2002.

The trilogy kicks things off in akushon black-and-white with The Mos