A Woman Called Sada Abe (1975)
"Jitsuroku Abe Sada" (original title)

Director:

Noboru Tanaka

Writer:

Akio Ido

Stars:

Junko Miyashita, Eimei Esumi, Genshû Hanayagi

Cast

Credited cast:
Junko Miyashita	...	Abe Sada
Eimei Esumi	...	Kishizô Ishida
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Genshû Hanayagi	...	Geisha
Yoshie Kitsuda	...	Kishizos wife
Ikunosuke Koizumi	...	Detective
Nagatoshi Sakamoto	...	Osato

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

based on true story

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

8 February 1975 (Japan)

Also Known As:

A Woman Called Sada Abe

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nikkatsu

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of Sada (1998)

User Reviews

always unsettling

Made just before, Empire of the Senses, based upon the same 1936 incident and the year before the director would make, Watcher in the Attic. The later film also concerns obsession getting close to madness but that one is a little easier to watch than this. Well enough made, with some beautiful shots and close-ups and good performances, this is pretty gruelling stuff. I found, even the early scenes where there is a lot of laughing and licking of each others fingers slightly uncomfortable and that's before we get onto flavouring their food with each others juices and ultimately, games involving the tying of a pink cloth around the neck. Nicely non linear, with jumps forward and the reveres with newspaper clippings and some historical detail, but it is still claustrophobic, being mainly set in one room, and always unsettling.