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Smashing the O-Line (1960)

The Melbourne Cinémathèque & ACMI present

Smashing the O-Line

Seijun Suzuki | Japan | 1960 | Unclassified (15+)
Film

When

Wed 23 Jul 2025

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Hiroyuki Nagata plays the reporter from hell, an amoral journalist who’ll stop at nothing to get a scoop on the drug-smuggling and human-trafficking activities taking place on the docks on the East China Sea. Suzuki sets a frenetic pace, using a familiar B-noir template as a jumping off point for a propulsive dance of cinematic style. Its dynamic camera movement, rich, velvety shadows, jolting jump cuts and complex jazz riffs underscore the air of unpredictability and spontaneity of a film which reputedly went from script first draft to final cut in just 16 days.

35mm print courtesy of the Japan Foundation.

Format: 35mm
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Source: Japan Foundation
Courtesy: Japan Foundation
Runtime: 83 mins

Event duration

83 mins

Rating

Unclassified (15+)

Where

Cinema 1, Level 2
ACMI, Fed Square

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$30.5–36

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$174–325

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More films screening in this program

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About Melbourne Cinémathèque

Australia's longest-running film society, Melbourne Cinémathèque screens significant works of international cinema in the medium they were created, the way they would have originally screened.

Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered, volunteer-run, not-for-profit and membership-driven. 

Learn more | View the 2025 program | See membership options

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