Mienai Mokugekisha
2019 / 128m - Japan
Crime
3.5*/5.0*
Blind Witness poster

Watches

September 09, 2020

3.5*/5.0*

Japan loves its police thrillers. They're not the most remarkable films and few of them make a splash overseas, but once you start paying attention to them it's obvious that every year there are at least a couple of high profile ones. Many of them can be traced back to literary works or TV series, but it seems Blind Witness is a stand-alone film.

Not that it matters that much, these films tend to follow a very rigid structure, the main difference is that you get to spend a bit more time on the introduction of the characters. Natsume is a detective who quit the police force when she went blind, but when one night she hears a voice calling for help, she decides to investigate the possible crime herself.

The production is extremely slick, the pacing is solid and the main character's disability makes for some interesting tweaks on its basic formula. The film is extremely predictable and by the numbers though, so don't expect any big genre twists or novel takes. Blind Witness is a very solid police thriller, nothing less, nothing more.