Proof of the Man — Proof of the Man(Blu Ray)

When visionary producer Haruki Kadokawa inherited his father’s publishing business in the mid-seventies, he promptly set about combining his two great interests - books and filmmaking – and transforming the Japanese film industry. In a bid to compete with the blockbusters that were arriving from the US (and which were very popular), he started to introduce 1970s Japanese audiences to the home-grown version.  First up in 1976 was the instantly popular murderous epic The Inugami Family, followed swiftly a year later by the masterful thriller Proof of the Man. Set in New York and Tokyo, it boasted a stellar cast of George Kennedy, Robert Earl Jones (James’ father)  Ozu favourite Mariko Okada and Kurosawa muse, Toshiro Mifune and went on to become Japan’s second highest-grossing film of all time (for a while anyway). 

Adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by its author Seiichi Morimura, Proof of the Man is, on the face of it, a police procedural, and while it is certainly true to the genre in many ways, there’s a lot more going on here than just crime solving. For the first half of the film, the action is split between two seemingly distinct narratives. In New York, Johnny Hayward, played by musician Joe Yamanaka and who sits at the centre of the mystery, emerges with cash in hand ready for his trip to Japan. But just three days after arriving in Tokyo, he meets a deadly end – the only clue to his demise being the final words ‘straw hat’. Meanwhile, in the same building, a fashion show by designer Kyōko Yasugi (Mariko Okada) is underway, bringing us neatly to plot point number two, where Yasugi’s son Kyohei (Kōichi Iwaki) is embroiled in a hit-and-run incident during which he mistakenly leaves behind a very distinctive watch. As the narrative strands start to wend together, seasoned Harlem cop Ken Shuftan, played by Kennedy (who of course featured in everything from Cool Hand Luke to the Airport films to Naked Gun) is recruited to dig into the life of the recently deceased Hayward alongside his Japanese counterpart Detective Munesue (Yusaku Matsuda). As the pennies start to drop and we learn more about each character, it becomes apparent that all roads lead back to the aftermath of the Second World War, revealing a secret past from which no one is spared.

 Director Junya Sato, who was no stranger to big action-based films having made the star-studded The Bullet Train just two years before, was a perfect choice to handle this type of ‘big’ film. Through the clever use of flashbacks, location-switching and visual cues, he deftly switches between narratives until the lines eventually become blurred. The original Japanese title of this film is Ningen no Shōmei – where ‘Man’ is replaced by ‘Human’ and establishes what really lies at the heart of Proof of the Man - the answer to the question ‘What makes us Human?  In juxtaposing the worlds of Tokyo and New York – the brutality and nature of violence, the impact of the war, the attitude to other races, he uncovers the deep-seated fears and responses that ultimately mark the behaviour of all of mankind.

 The performances are wonderful, not least that of Okada and Matsuda – the two protagonists inextricably linked by historical events and around whom our narrative builds, while the ambling Kennedy and an uncommonly subdued Mifune are never to be dismissed. Added to which, this film looks great – I am a sucker for the visuals of a burned-out 70s New York, and it works so well as a contrast to the bright lights and futurism of Tokyo – a post-war irony.

 Despite its popularity, this is the first time that Proof of the Man has been available for home viewing outside of Japan. Released by Arrow Video- both in the UK and Stateside- this is a brand-new transfer from a 4K restoration, which really lets the deviation between the two cities come alive. There’s also a brand-new audio commentary that pairs Asian American film scholar Rob Buscher with New York DJ Skeme Richards alongside two first-class bonus features. Taking the Big Apple by Asian film expert Earl Jackson gives a fascinating overview of how the film came to be made, its importance within the Japanese film canon and its impact at the time. But my highlight was A Japanese Blockbuster, an engaging discussion between Sato biographers Tatsuya Masuto and Masaaki Nomura around the studio system in Japan, Sato’s approach to filmmaking, Kadokawa’s relentless promotional activity and a few other pieces of film gossip (!).

 Proof of the Man is a joyous watch – capturing a moment in time for both New York and Tokyo (read Japan) that taps into the residual post-war issues that permeated both cultures just 30 years or so after the war had come to a close.