Review: 'Man From Reno' Is Stellar Pulp Storytelling With A Twist

Dave Boyle’s “Man From Reno” is the type of film where alleyways are home offices, every bar matchbox has an unknown number inside, and if a character enters a bookshop, you better believe old issues of “True Detective” are hanging visibly in frame. Boyle, who previously made festival favorite “White on Rice," plunges his first genre entry into the annals of film noir. This is stellar pulp storytelling with a twist, blending fine performances from Ayako Fujitani (“Tokyo!”) and Pepe Serna (“Scarface”) with an evocative view of California’s Bay Area.

Placed somewhere between “The Big Sleep” and “Chan is Missing” — Wayne Wang’s 1982 independent neo-noir about two Chinese taxi drivers scouring San Francisco for stolen money — the film shares aspects of Wang’s take on the genre. Both films explore the coastal city from a little-seen perspective, here delving into its Japanese-American community with a unique eye. 'Reno' also possesses a wannabe Sherlock as a main character,...