I Am Waiting (1957) - Koreyoshi Kurahara

A story of two damaged souls, an ex-boxer who has had his license stripped from him and a lounge singer whose voice was damaged from illness.  The two live lonely lives until a chance encounter one night brings them together.  With no reason to stay in Japan, the ex-boxer waits to be beckoned by his brother, who lives in Brazil, but it has been over a year and he has heard nothing.  The owner of the lounge, a mobster of sorts, comes looking for the singer who still owes him two months of work.  This leads to the ex-boxer learning of a connection between his grief and the singers, along with the fact  that the lounge owner may be responsible for his his brother never even making it to South America in the first place.  I Am Waiting is a Japanese Noir that really spends its time with two characters who are down on their luck.  The first half of the film is essentially a companion piece between these two as layers of their past, particularly the boxers, are slowly revealed.  Their are some absolutely fantastic compositions through the first half, where the alienation that these characters feel are captured through the visuals.  The second half of the film plays more like a mystery noir as the boxer learns of his brothers fate and tries to find out exactly what happened to him.  The strength of the film really lies in the strength of the main characters and the compassion it instills in the audience for them.  I also love how the boxer and singer never really fall in love like almost every movie, but rather just seek companionship from the loneliness.
8/10

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