Name: Phone Call to the Bar
Genre: Comedy, Crime & Mystery
Released: 2011-09-10
Rating: 8.5
Cast: Matsuda Ryuhei, Yo Oizumi, Koyuki, Nishida Toshiyuki, Taguchi Tomorowo

Matsuda Ryuhei is a Japanese actor who was born on May 9, 1983, in Tokyo, Japan, to a family of actors. Aged just 15, he was cast as a samurai in the 1999 hit movie “Taboo,” a role for which he won a number of domestic acting awards. He followed up with the film “Shibito no Koiwazurai” (2001), and has since gone on to star in dozens of hit movies, including “The Raid 2” (2014), “Before We Vanish” (2017), and “Beneath the Shadow” in 2020.

Matsuda Ryuhei

Yo Oizumi is a Japanese actor and TV star who was born on April 3, 1973, in Ebetsu, Hokkaido, Japan. He studied at Hokkai Gakuen University. He began acting and appearing on TV in 1996, when he starred in the movie “Gamera 2: Attack of Legion” and began appearing on the long-running variety show title How Do You Like Wednesday?”– which aired until 2002. He has also appeared in a number of thriller movie releases, including the hit “The Last Shot in the Bar” in 2017. His drama series title credits include a 2019 adaptation of the hit manga series “Stay Tuned!”

Yo Oizumi

Koyuki is a Japanese actress who was born on December 18, 1976, in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. She began acting in the 1990s, appearing in movies and the drama series title “Taburoido” (1998). In 2001, she appeared in the hit horror movie “Pulse.” She followed up with a role in the Hollywood blockbuster “The Last Samurai,” alongside Tom Cruise, in 2003. She has since gone on to star in drama series releases like “Legal High” (2013) and “Fragile” (2016), as well as “The Naked Director” (2019).

Koyuki

Nishida Toshiyuki is a Japanese actor who was born on November 4, 1947, in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. He made his acting debut in 1974, when he began appearing in both drama series titles and movies. He made an international name for himself when he starred as Pigsy in the hit TV series “Monkey” (1978-1980) – an adaptation of the Chinese literary classic “A Journey to the West.” Between 1988 and 2009, he also starred in a number of hit movie adaptations of the fishing-themed manga comedy series “Tsuribaka Nisshi.” More recently, he has appeared in “The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms” (2020).

Nishida Toshiyuki

Taguchi Tomorowo is a Japanese actor, film director, illustrator, and musician who was born in Tokyo, Japan, on November 30, 1957. He began his creative career in the mid-1970s and made his acting debut in the movie “Zokubutsu Zukan” in 1978. In 1989, he starred in the international horror-thriller hit movie “Tetsuo: The Iron Man,” and the film’s successful 1992 sequel “Tetsuo II: Body Hammer.” He has since gone on to star in numerous film releases, such as 1995’s “Tokyo Fist,” “Taboo” in 1999, and more recent titles such as “Fancy” (2020) and “The Door into Summer” (2021).

Taguchi Tomorowo

Yutaka Matsushige is a Japanese actor who was born on January 19, 1963, in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. He attended Meiji University, where he majored in Drama and began his acting career in 1983. In 1992 he starred in the hit horror movie “The Guard From Underground” and followed up in 1998 with another hit horror film: “EM Embalming.” He has since gone on to appear in dozens of successful movie titles, including “Dynamite Graffiti” and “Flea-picking Samurai” (both 2018) and 2021’s “What Happened to Our Nest Egg?”

Matsushige Yutaka

Namioka Kazuki is a Japanese actor who was born on August 2, 1978, in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, and studied in Waseda University’s Faculty of Political Science and Economics. He made his acting debut in the TV series “Pride” in 2004. He went on to appear in a number of “Kamen Rider” series releases, as well as the 2009 movie “Drop,” and the film “Fish Story” (2009). He also appeared in the hard-boiled thriller movie “Phone Call to the Bar” in 2011.

Namioka Kazuki

An unnamed hard-boiled private detective (played by Oizumi Yo) goes for a fateful evening out on a cold winter’s night at his favorite cocktail bar accompanied by Takada (Matsuda Ryuhei) his lazy but loyal driver and companion. After a few drinks, Takada falls asleep slumped over the bar and the phone at the bar rings.

The female caller asks to speak to the detective and asks him to complete a simple-sounding task. The detective agrees – but when he goes to carry it out, he is almost buried alive under snow by a gang of thugs. He is saved at the last moment by Takada’s quick-thinking actions.

The detective decides to take his revenge on the gang, but is interrupted by another phone call from the mysterious woman.

This once-simple job now starts to get very complex, and he soon finds himself investigating a number of baffling murder cases, one of which involves a powerful local business leader and his beautiful wife...

This film was based on the “Susukino Detective” series of books by the novelist Naomi Azuma.

“Phone Call to the Bar” is a 2011 Japanese crime movie that was directed by Hajime Hashimoto.

Phone Call to the Bar

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