Maiku Hama, Private Eye - Trilogy (1993)

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With THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME OF MY LIFE, Kaizo Hayashi creates a witty, action-packed homage/spoof to French New Wave cinema, American film noir, and Japanese gangster films. Detective Maiku "Mike" Hama (Masatoshi Nagase) is used to dealing with the underworld, but he takes on more than he… More With THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME OF MY LIFE, Kaizo Hayashi creates a witty, action-packed homage/spoof to French New Wave cinema, American film noir, and Japanese gangster films. Detective Maiku "Mike" Hama (Masatoshi Nagase) is used to dealing with the underworld, but he takes on more than he can handle when he meets a mah-jongg parlor waiter with a gang secret that could blow up the underworld. As Hama becomes further entwined with the waiter, he descends into a hell of gang wars, revenge, and deception that will forever change his life.THE STAIRWAY TO THE DISTANT PAST once again stars Masatoshi Nagase as Private Detective Mike Hama, who, when the film begins, is practically homeless. Things change, however, with the arrival of Lilly, a beautiful and mysterious stripper whose true identity may hold the secret to Mike's past. Hayashi brings part two of his acclaimed series to life with vivid color and graphic violence captured in an ironic and highly stylized way.Concluding director Kaizo Hayashi's Mike Hama Private Investigator Trilogy, THE TRAP opens with P.I. Mike Hama feeling that he's at the top of the world. It appears that the perennially troubled investigator finally has his romantic and work life in order when a visit from a mysterious messenger throws a dagger into his newfound happiness. In trying to decipher some meaning behind the messenger's cryptic orders, Hama unknowingly becomes the prime suspect in a long line of gruesome murders. As he falls deeper and deeper into Yokahama's criminal underbelly, Mike's prospects appear to grow dimmer by the minute. By far the darkest and most mysterious of the Mike Hama Trilogy, THE TRAP is an appropriately nightmarish end to Hayashi's twisted cinematic journey.