Perhaps the most stylish and noir-imbued of his series of Japanese “Line” films of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, Teruo Ishii’s Kurosen chitai (US: Black Line) is a pulpy crime film that bathes in sleazy, underground settings and a percussive jazz score by Chumei Watanabe. Shigeru Amachi plays Kôji Machida, a freelance journalist who wakes up in bed with a female corpse, someone’s obvious attempt to frame him for murder, which sends him on an investigative odyssey to clear his name. A second related murder leads him deep into the Black Line, the seedy red light district where drugs, prostitution, and violence attract shady characters, including gambler Maya (Yôko Mihara) who befriends Machida and helps him navigate the neon lights, dark alleys, and dangerous clubs. Unusual for the time, the film features drag queens, including one whose role is significant to the plot, while the sleaze is made to shine by Shigenori Yoshida’s low-key expressionist cinematography and a script that is more daring and risque that most of the era. The desperation is omnipresent in the form of big acts of violence and small acts of despair.