Friend of the Gutter Michelle Kisner on Kinji Fukasaku’s 1968 film, Black Lizard! “Villains can be alluring and enchanting and, if executed correctly, can hold the audience in the palm of their hands. Kinji Fukasaku’s film Black Lizard (1968) has one such outlaw, Mrs. Midorikawa (Akihiro Miwa), AKA the titular Black Lizard, a jewel thief with an unhealthy obsession with youth and beauty. Black Lizard has her sights set on two things, an expensive necklace known as the Star of Egypt, and Sanae Iwase (Kikko Matsuoka), the gorgeous young daughter of Shobei Iwase (Junya Usami), the jeweler who owns the necklace.”

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