The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi (1979) Review

This is a comedy by Nobuhiko Obayashi that is based on the fictional detective Kosuke Kindaichi created by Seishi Yokomizo. I have no familiarity with the character at all but there have been numerous TV and film adaptations done on him, and in fact, the main actor who plays Kindaichi, Ikko Furuya, had played him previously in a TV show and would go on to play as him in subsequent movies.
The film itself is pretty oddball, it jumps around quite a bit and at first, I was a little confused about what was going on, and throughout there's bits of nonsense and randomness scattered about, which do at times provide some good laughs. And it even at times gets a little meta, including Yokimozo playing himself in a cameo, where he gets royalties and says he didn't want to be in the movie.

The story itself is, of course, a detective mystery where Kindaichi has been urged to solve a case that was left unsolved in a book about his cases. It is fun to watch unfold and has some interesting little twists, though as the film does like to jump about and gets a bit jumbly, you could get a little lost, but it all wraps up well towards the end.

What makes this film really stand out though, is the aftermath of the case being solved.
The last 10 minutes of this film blew me away, I can't really reveal anything but it definitely takes and turn and I love it.

Overall, the film's rather unhinged approach may prove to be off-putting for some. But I found it to be a very fun detective comedy, and that ending really brings it up a level. ***1/2