Japan Cuts XVII Review: Tominaga Masanori’s BETWEEN THE WHITE KEY AND THE BLACK KEY Hits the Right Note
3 min. read On a nostalgic New Year’s Eve in late 80s Ginza, aspiring jazz pianist Hiroshi (Ikematsu Sousuke) quits his cabaret pianist job because he doesn’t feel that he can grow there as a musician. As he begins traveling the nightime world of Ginza bar musicians, players who go to neighboring clubs and bars to play music, he becomes embroiled in the complex ecosystem of artists and gangsters out to ring in the new year. With his upperclassman Chikako (Naka Riisa) to give him guidance, he encounters a foreign singer (Crystal Kay), a fresh out of prison yakuza with a vendetta (Morita Go), and a well regarded bar pianist Minami (also Ikematsu) who also finds himself caught up in the chaos the night will bring. Adapted from an essay by esteemed jazz pianist Minami Hiroshi, Between the White Key and Black Key isn’t so much a biopic despite the […]