The disappearance in July 2000 of Lucie Blackman, a 21-year-old British bar hostess working in Tokyo, was one of the biggest stories to come out of Japan at the time. It was a case that grew more sensational and sinister with each passing week, involving a massive police operation working under intense scrutiny, some controversial interventions by Blackman¡¯s family, and a tight-lipped suspect who seemed to be a manifestation of pure evil.
The case was so singular, it was a natural candidate for the Netflix true-crime treatment. Hyoe Yamamoto¡¯s ¡°Tokyo Police Files: The Lucie Blackman Case¡± offers a different perspective on an investigation that was often characterized by the media as sluggish, even downright incompetent.
Inspired by journalist Shoji Takao¡¯s exhaustive chronicle of the case, ¡°Elegy for Detectives¡± (2010), this glossy, fast-paced documentary features interviews with many of the police officers involved. They don¡¯t always set the record straight, especially on some of the most nagging questions, but they offer genuine insights into what was really happening behind the scenes.
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