The Wings of The Kirin

GREAT MOVIES: Nobuhiro Doi's The Wings of The Kirin (Japan, 2012) - Japanese TV spinoff "The Wings of the Kirin" is an intriguing murder mystery that swiftly takes flight and sustains all the way to the final reels. Based on a novel by popular Nipponese crime writer Keigo Higashino, whose police detective Kyoichiro Kaga spawned tube hit "Shinzanmono" last year, pic should fly with local auds when it opens in January. When a salaryman (Kiichi Nakai) dies of stab wounds near the Kirin statues that adorn Tokyo's famous Nihonbashi bridge, a former colleague (Takahiro Miura) is seen fleeing the crime scene. He's later found comatose after being hit by a truck, but only stony-faced Det. Kaga (Hiroshi Abe) thinks it's anything more than an open-and-shut case. Nobuhiro Doi's direction has the purposeful narrative drive of a classic Quinn Martin cop show, and the production design to match, and the talented thesps turn in fine work. Tech credits are polished. RATING: 9