Every country has a star that has been popular for a long time.
Even they can no longer be called stars, but representatives of a culture.
In Japan, the only person who can be called this name is Takuya Kimura.
Although Kimura has rarely acted in some big productions, his works can still arouse widespread discussion every time they are released.
And what Xiaomei wants to recommend today is his new work -
"Masquerade Night"
The film is based on Keigo Higashino's novel Masquerade Hotel.
Because the response after the first film and television was OK, the filmmakers launched a sequel while it was hot.
Still the hotel, still the waiters, still the cops, still looking for prisoners among the many travelers.
"Masquerade Hotel" is not particularly brilliant among Keigo Higashino's many mystery novels, but it is the most suitable for adaptation into a movie.
All kinds of travelers, strange events, are staged in this hotel.
The first is mainly intro, telling the story of a murder in a hotel called Cortecia.
Due to the flow of people, the pursuit of the murder process is difficult, so the police decided to carry out an undercover operation.
Nitta, a policeman played by Takuya Kimura, is ordered to disguise himself as a hotel attendant.
It is not difficult to be a waiter, but it is difficult to be a waiter in a Cortesia hotel, because this hotel is aimed at serving well.
The guest is thirsty, and you have to hurry up and bring water.
The guests are tired, you have to hurry up and beat your legs.
When the guest is angry, you have to quickly get down on your knees and apologize.
In front of this group of people, Haidilao can only be regarded as a younger brother.
Nitta is an unruly agent, usually grinning, jealous of crime, suitable for rushing to the front line to arrest people.
Let such a thorn head go undercover as a waiter, it is almost fatal to him.
What's even more frightening is that Yamagan picks his faults everywhere and always doesn't give him steps down.
Before the investigation began, the two people had already become sworn enemies.
In Yamagishi's eyes, as a hotel waiter, you should always be aimed at the guest, and the demands they make must not say a "no" word.
Some of them can't be called requirements, they are simply deliberately difficult, but even so, they still have to be satisfied.
For example, there is a woman who, when booking a restaurant, said that she did not want to see any portrait hanging pictures in the room.
This was easy to do, and Yamagishi immediately arranged to remove the hanging paintings in the room.
As a result, I was complained about by this woman again.
Reason, you don't believe it when you say it, there are spokespeople on the billboard outside the window.
My mother, professional bad evaluators do not dare to be so picky.
However, our truth, goodness and beauty Yamagishi not only humbly accepted criticism, but also suddenly wanted to solve this problem for guests.
That's someone's billboard, don't you want to remove it?
Of course not, Yamagan's method was to use a bunch of balloons to lift off and then block it.
Oh well, it's really seconds.
The second part continues with the investigation of the first part, because the police received an anonymous report letter claiming that there would be a murder at the Cortesia Hotel on New Year's Eve.
Crucially, Anonymous said the killer was among them.
Such revelations do not need to be believed at all, but anonymous people have provided evidence that the police cannot refuse.
A few days ago, there was an electrocution casualty incident somewhere, the victim was a young girl wearing Lolita women's clothes, because the killer erased all traces, resulting in a confused investigation.
But Anonymous accurately stated that the case was not publicly available, giving the police reason to believe that Anonymous knew the inside story.
So Nitta could only become a waiter again, and Yamagishi fought with each other while investigating the case.
The hotel has to stay N guests every day, and then check out N guests, how to find the real culprit in the crowd of flowing water?
Rely on intuition.
Rely on an intuition of years of handling cases.
The first thing that made Nitta suspicious was a man in a suit.
From the first day of staying in the hotel, this person constantly looked for trouble for Yamagishi, and it was difficult for her to do all kinds of things that could not be done.
For example, he said he would propose marriage on Chinese New Year's Eve night, but asked for a private room.
The problem was that it was too late for him to make his request, and all the halls Chinese New Year's Eve had been booked, but he didn't listen at all, and he threatened Yamagishi with all his might.
The second thing that made Nitta suspicious was a long-haired woman who checked in and the system showed that someone had opened two rooms under her name.
But she did not suspect at all, but instead smiled and explained to the waiter that it was her husband.
The third is even stranger, the original and the little three live together.
According to the hotel system, the husband often opened rooms with different women, and opened with A and B.
Today it is bizarre that he actually finished with A and then opened with B.
The last man, carrying a large bag, refused all services from the moment he entered the door, always looking around for fear of being followed.
However, although the guests are strange, it is actually the waiter who is more worth complaining about.
To use an inappropriate analogy, the police are going to go to Haidilao's box to handle the case, and the waiter at Haidilao said let's sing a happy birthday song to the guests first.
Yes, it wasn't the murderer who interfered with the police, it was the hotel attendant.
Keigo Higashino's novel "Masquerade Hotel" chose to start a case in the hotel.
There is also a very important reason, all the people who walk into the hotel wear masks, from the hotel's point of view, they are all guests, but the guests are saddled with secrets.
A guest's business card can perfectly cover up these pasts, as Yamagishi said:
She didn't care if these people were the killers, she only cared about whether they could feel the warm service from the hotel during their stay.
Of course, from the perspective of Japan's service culture, we can't understand this kind of behavior, but it is quite harmonious in the Japanese environment.
As a speculative crime film, a variety of events are interspersed, although the suspense is greatly enhanced.
But it is also too complicated, and some want to cover up.
Frankly speaking, the film does not have too many praiseworthy parts in the reasoning plot, but most of the progress is based on the results of the investigation of foreign aid.
The performances of Takuya Kimura and Masami Nagasawa can only be said to be decent.
As commented by the same netizens, finding the murderer has never been the main line of "Masquerade Hotel".
Because this is Keigo Higashino's novel, the humanity and humanity behind the crime is the key to impressing the reader and the audience.