Zero Focus

Zero Focus (ゼロの焦点) is a 1961 Japanese crime drama film directed by Yoshitarō Nomura, and co-written by Shinobu Hashimoto and Yoji Yamada. It is based on the novel of the same name by Seichō Matsumoto. A remake of the film was released in 2009.

Plot
One week into newlywed Teiko Uhara's marriage, her husband, ad agency manager Kenichi, leaves on a short business trip to Kanazawa and doesn't return. With a pair of old photographs she found among his belongings, Teiko travels across Japan to search for him, first with the help of her husband's employer, later on her own. After a series of mysterious deaths, including a reception girl of the agency's Kanazawa branch, who turns out to be Kenichi's common law wife, and Kenichi's alleged suicide, all clues lead to Sachiko Murota, wife of a wealthy business partner of her husband. Teiko confronts Mrs. Murota and blames her for murdering Kenichi and everyone who knew of her past as a prostitute in the post-war era. Yet, as Mrs. Murota's confession reveals, the truth is even more complex than that.

Cast

 * Yoshiko Kuga as Teiko Uhara
 * Hizuru Takachiho as Sachiko Murota / Emmy
 * Ineko Arima as Hisako Tanuma / Sally
 * Koji Nambara as Kenichi Uhara / Masuzaburo Sone
 * Kō Nishimura as Sōtarō Uhara
 * Yoshi Katō as Gisaku Murota
 * Sadako Sawamura as Sōtarō's wife
 * Takanobu Hozumi as Mr. Honda

Awards

 * 1961 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actress (Hizuru Takachiho)

Legacy
Seicho Matsumoto's novel was again adapted in 2009 by Isshin Inudō with Ryōko Hirosue as Teiko Uhara.