Black Test Car

Masumura’s hard-edged thriller about rival car companies who resort to espionage, blackmail, dirty dealing and sabotage to gain market dominance, is a coruscating vision of the excesses and ruthlessness of Japanese corporate culture during the “economic miracle” of the 1950s and 1960s. Sleekly shot in black-and-white ’scope, this is amongst the director’s most purely pleasurable, engaging and fast-paced films, managing to imbue its speed-driven images of sportscar “tests” and competitive masculinity with a dark ethos. With Jiro Tamiya and Eiji Funakoshi.