Haida
Written by Juro Kara
Based on a true incident

The 1995 Japanese film Umihoozuki was supposedly inspired by a true incident involving a Japanese girl who went missing in Taiwan (and then was found murdered by a taxi driver) several years ago. Ther story was adapted for the screen by, and also starred Juro Kara, as HAIDA, a once-famous private detective, now fallen on hard times and running out of luck or hope.

One day, he gets a great notion to jump in the river and drown, but he ends up rescuing another drowning man. Soon Haida's landed a job investigating the mysterious disappearance of a student, last heard from in Taiwan, from where she sent her mother a rather cryptic letter, "Wait a bit, Mother. I'm sending my breath. It will arrive soon."

FILM

• UMIHOOZUKI
  AKA The Breath
  (1995, Japan/Taiwan)
  138 minutes
  Screenplay by Juro Kara
  Directed by Kaizo Hayashi
  Language: Japanese
  Starring Juro Kara as HAIDA
  Also starring Yoshio Harada, Tang Na, Ni Shujun, Haruko Wanibuchi, T.C. Lin

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.