In the labyrinthine yet mostly satisfying neo-noir thriller “Man From Reno,” mystery swirls around two figures like the thick, Bay Area fog that opens the film.
The first enigma concerns an anonymous pedestrian in a torn suit (Hiroshi Watanabe) who is accidentally struck by a car driven by a rural Bay Area sheriff (Pepe Serna) one dark and foggy night. After being taken to a hospital, the battered but living victim — dubbed the “running man” by Sheriff Paul Del Moral, the dogged, no-nonsense cop who laconically anchors the film — disappears.
The second conundrum involves Aki Akahori (Ayako Fujitani), a pretty Japanese writer of bestselling thrillers who ducks out on the press tour for her latest book, turning up in a San Francisco hotel with the obvious symptoms of a secret past. (Maybe even a secret present; jet lag never looks quite this furtive.)
As the movie progresses, the intrigues around these characters crisscross and intertwine like creeping vines, sprouting more new leaves and twisted offshoots than a season of “Twin Peaks.” Things get resolved eventually, yet the mounting questions can get a bit overwhelming: Who is the charming stranger (Kazuki Kitamura) who seduces Aki? And why does he leave a suitcase in her hotel room with a head of lettuce in it, as well as a bunch of rare turtles hidden in the toilet tank? And what does the running man have to do with the wealthy Anglo-Irish businessman (Derrick O’Connor) who financed Del Moral’s political campaign?
In this multinational cast, the names are hard to remember, making me wish for a chess set labeled with Post-It Notes just to keep track of the shadowy characters and their shifting aliases: Akira Suzuki; Hitoshi Yamamoto; Osamu Masamura. Are these three different people? Two? Or only one? As Del Moral says at one point, “I’m losing track of all the names here.”
As the sheriff investigates, the bodies, mysteries and false identities only multiply. Aki lends her skills as a kind of Nancy Drew with a Sherlockian ability to deduce facts about people at a glance. Her skills as an interpreter also come in handy during a prison interview with a person of interest. Much of the film is in Japanese. Confusion reigns, as in a debate over the meaning of the Japanese word kami, which Aki notes can mean “hair,” “god” or “paper.” If you can hang on for close to two hours with almost no resolution, it’s worth the ride.
“Man From Reno” (2½ stars)
Rating: Unrated. Contains adult language and some violence
Showing: Northwest Film Forum
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