Kuroi kawa (1957)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Masaki Kobayashi

Writers:

Zenzo Matsuyama (writer)
Takeo Tomishima (story)

Release Date:

1957 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Cast

Fumio Watanabe
Ineko Arima
Tatsuya Nakadai
Asao Sano
Seiji Miyaguchi
Eijirô Tôno

Also Known As:

Black River

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo

Film noirish look at post war Japanese squalor

The story is set around an American Air Force base which has attracted bars and brothels and the native Japanese who need this sordid world to scape by and make money to just barely survive. A love triangle develops among the dwellers of a falling down apartment building and a local gangster called Killer Joe.

It's a fascinating slice of life with engaging vivid seedy characters, these type of shanty towns always develop around military bases, I can't think of any other films I've seen that take place there. It's a rare look into the postwar lower middle class and lower end criminal element in Japan. Fast moving and convincing well worth watching if you can find it. Memorable ending and last image to a memorable film.