Most of the streams of the Japanese "troubled youth" movie reach their peak in Tears on the Lion's Mane, the major Shinoda movie that Criterion doesn't have and is thus all but unknown in America. Young Sabu is an enforcer for a small shipping company, and we first see him running to the docks to … Continue reading Flame at the Pier / Tears on the Lion’s Mane / Namida o shishi no tategami ni (1962)
Toru Takemitsu
Inheritance / Karami-ai (1962)
A rich businessman who discovers he has cancer with the heirs fighting over the will is a good, solid plot in just about any country. But in Kobayashi's Inheritance, there are no heirs. Or, to be more precise, So Yamamura being a rich man in Japan, the country is practically littered with potential heirs, children … Continue reading Inheritance / Karami-ai (1962)
Pale Flower / Kawaita hana (1963/4)
Pale Flower offers so many attractions that it is difficult to know where to even begin. There really is no other movie I can recall that is quite like it -- try to imagine a gangster movie directed by Ingmar Bergman and you might be close, but still not be ready for the experience. In … Continue reading Pale Flower / Kawaita hana (1963/4)
Youth in Fury / Dry Lake / Kawaita mizuumi (1960)
Japan entered "the sixties" considerably earlier than other countries, with a radical opposition to governmental policies dating from the formal end of the Occupation in 1952. As with the sixties protest movements in France and the US, these were as often age based as politically motivated, with the most vocal and active opposition led by … Continue reading Youth in Fury / Dry Lake / Kawaita mizuumi (1960)
Gate of Hell / Jigokumon (1953)
As one of Japan's earliest color films, Gate of Hell has almost always attracted critics for its intense use of color. But despite its visual splendor, it is really a movie about sexual obsession and the almost sub-human status of women in medieval Japan, even or perhaps especially samurai women. Set during the Heiji rebellion … Continue reading Gate of Hell / Jigokumon (1953)
Directors and Their Muses
Every nation’s film history shows some fruitful long-term collaborations of certain actors and directors. John Ford and John Wayne, for example, leap immediately to mind for Americans, or Scorcese and de Niro. When this pairing is linked to a director who also writes, it often produces some of their most personal and often best films … Continue reading Directors and Their Muses