The Broken Commandments 破戒 1962 // Japan // Kon Ichikawa 市川崑 Letterboxd (LINK) Adapted by Natto Wada (The Burmese Harp, Conflagation) from Toson Shimazaki‘s 1906 novel, filmed in a gloomy, oppressively atmospheric cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Ugetsu), THE BROKEN COMMANDMENTS (a.k.a. The Outcast, or Hakai) is a didactic, slowly paced but moving tale of a young… Continue reading The Broken Commandments 破戒 (Kon Ichikawa 市川崑, 1962)
Women are Born Twice 女は二度生まれる 1961 // Japan // Yuzo Kawashima 川島雄三 Letterboxd (LINK) Also known as THE GEISHA’S DIARY, still, I much prefer the original direct translation of the film title, WOMEN ARE BORN TWICE. It’s apparently an echo to the famous quote, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” by Simone de… Continue reading Women are Born Twice 女は二度生まれる (Yuzo Kawashima 川島雄三, 1961)
#988 The Inland Sea 1991 // Japan // Lucille Carra Criterion Collection (LINK) / Letterboxd (LINK) THE INLAND SEA, a documentary/essay film based on the travelogue/memoir of the same name written by the renowned film critic/author Donald Richie, has been left in oblivion for nearly three decades until a Blu-ray release made by the Criterion Collection this… Continue reading #988 The Inland Sea (Lucille Carra, 1991)
A Wife’s Heart 妻の心 1956 // Japan // Mikio Naruse 成瀬巳喜男 Letterboxd (LINK) Filming the unspoken words, capturing the uneasy glances, sketching the stiffing traditional family structure, demonstrating the passionless loyalty and fanciful platonic love, celebrating the perseverance of a wife’s heart, Mikio Naruse’s family drama is at once melodramatic and delicate, striking the tenuous… Continue reading A Wife’s Heart 妻の心 (Mikio Naruse 成瀬巳喜男, 1956)
Snow Trail 銀嶺の果て 1947 // Japan // Senkichi Taniguchi 谷口千吉 Letterboxd (LINK) Mostly remembered as a film scripted by the legendary director Akira Kurosawa and featured the debut screen performance of Toshiro Mifune, SNOW TRAIL actually deserves a broader recognition than that. The storytelling is economical and fluidly paced, the bank robbery was only glimpsed… Continue reading Snow Trail 銀嶺の果て (Senkichi Taniguchi 谷口千吉, 1947)
Sanshiro Sugata 姿三四郎 1943 // Japan // Akira Kurosawa 黒澤明 Criterion Collection (LINK) / Letterboxd (LINK) Despite some scenes were cut and modified by censorship in order to fit the WWII milieu and national propaganda, Akira Kurosawa’s first feature was confidently executed with an emphasis on a man’s pursuit of enlightenment and purity. Sanshiro Sugata (Susumu Fujita)… Continue reading Eclipse Series 23: The First Films of Akira Kurosawa (1943-45)
Paranoia Agent 妄想代理人 2004 // Japan // Satoshi Kon 今敏 Letterboxd (LINK) This animated TV series is one hell of a psychological ride. It’s ecstatic, thrilling, bewitching, delightful, piercing, satirical, and appalling. It’s the pinnacle of Satoshi Kon, the genius who died too young. I would herald it alongside Fassbinder’s BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ (1980) and Lynch’s… Continue reading Paranoia Agent 妄想代理人 (Satoshi Kon 今敏, 2004)
Street of Shame 赤線地帯 1956 // Japan // Kenji Mizoguchi 溝口健二 Criterion Collection (LINK) / Letterboxd (LINK) Kenji Mizoguchi’s last film before his death of leukemia at the age of 58 is a critical social indictment and a sympathetic lament of the ‘fallen women’ that have been the leitmotif in Mizoguchi’s filmography. STREET OF SHAME,… Continue reading Street of Shame 赤線地帯 (Kenji Mizoguchi 溝口健二, 1956)
Earth 土 1939 // Japan // Tomu Uchida 内田吐夢 Letterboxd (LINK) Talking about the holy grail, Tomu Uchida’s prewar peasants epic, EARTH, was once considered to be lost till a seriously compromised, 93-minute German print was found in 1968. The original version is 142 minutes long, but the German version is missing the first and the last reel.… Continue reading Earth 土 (Tomu Uchida 内田吐夢, 1939)
Childhood Days 少年時代 1990 // Japan // Masahiro Shinoda 篠田正浩 Letterboxd (LINK) Masahiro Shinoda is mostly remembered as a figure from the Japanese New Wave with radical works from the 60s to 70s like ASSASSINATION (1964), DOUBLE SUICIDE (1969), and HIMIKO (1974), to name a few. But his late period of works still remain obscurely… Continue reading Childhood Days 少年時代 (Masahiro Shinoda 篠田正浩, 1990)
The Films in My Life (OnCriterion) 