Following the unexpected and quite significant success of “Midnight Swan”, which took home the Best Film and Best Actor Awards for Tsuyoshi Kusanagi by the Japanese Academy, it was expected that Eiji Uchida would find access to the highest echelons of the local movie industry, as the presence of Hiroshi Abe and the overall production quality of “Offbeat Cops” highlights.
Offbeat Cops is screening on New York Asian Film Festival
Tsukasa Naruse is a workaholic detective working on homicide cases, who, as the movie begins, is researching a group of conmen who rob old people after giving them a call posing as the police to discover if they hide money in their houses. His methods, however, are not exactly by the book, as his new partner, young Shota Sakamoto soon discovers. At the same time, his obsession with his job has led him to a divorce and a daughter, Noriko, who does not want much to do with him, even more so since his controlling behavior frequently embarrasses her in front of her friends and co-band members. Eventually, though, and after going rogue one time too many, a “leakage” of his behavior inside the precinct results in him being transferred, in disgrace, to a police musical band in bad need of a drummer for its final concert. Humiliated and filled with rage, Tsukasa finds it really hard to adapt. Eventually, though, and with the help of his bandmates and particularly Haruko, a girl who has followed the exact opposite way to the police band, he begins to change his life, and essentially, himself.
Eiji Uchida directs a movie that initially seems as a crime thriller but soon turns into something completely different, as the family drama/comedy elements begin to dominate the narrative, interspersed with some subtle notions of romance and a coming-of-age element. As such, the concept of the hard-nosed cop who is forced to become a drummer works in all the aforementioned paths, allowing for drama, through his downfall and the ways he tries to reconnect with his daughter, subtle romance, with Haruko, and comedy, through the many hilarious situations he gets into in his effort to learn the drums and mature in the process. At the same time, the crime elements are excellently placed in the narrative, adding to the multilevel approach, intensifying the aforementioned aspects, and retaining interest from beginning to end, in a film that could easily fall off the tracks.
This prowess highlights Eiji Uchida's command of the medium, even if the movie is not exactly his usual cup of tea, as it is much tamer than his previous works, and the overall editing, which, additionally, implements a very fitting, relatively fast pace. Expectedly, some unnecessary scenes during the ending are also here, but in general, considering the nature of the movie, they are much more organic than usual in Japanese cinema.
At the same time, the movie is also a triumph for Hiroshi Abe, who portrays a multileveled character with gusto, in all of his different hypostases (detective, drummer, father, mentor). The drumming scenes, for which he seems to have undergone training, are also a highlight, particularly because he manages to appear inflexible, both literally and metaphorically, even when everyone around him is “in the zone”.
In terms of context, the issue with old people getting conned, which seems to be a significant one for Japanese society lately, is also highlighted here, even if the approach Uchida implements borders on being cheesy on occasion, as with the fan of the band. Furthermore, the solving of the crime is not that well handled, resulting in an unsatisfying arc finale, while Shota's confession is quite weak, in an overall mediocre performance by Hayato Isomura.
Despite some issues here and there, mostly deriving from the overall mainstream approach implemented here, and the fact that “Offbeat Cops” does not reach the levels of his independent work, it remains a highly entertaining movie that is quite easy to watch while admiring Abe's evident charisma.
