Japan during the 1960s saw a surge in crime flicks. Examples include the stylish gangster features by Seijun Suzuki and the darkly comical underworld movies by Kihachi Okamoto. Yet, there were also slower pieced character study crime thrillers that took their time to develop their characters and create overwhelming suspense and atmosphere with powerful themes that made audiences think. Look no further than Akira Kurosawa’s terrific films “The Bad Sleep Well” and “High and Low.” Yet, Kurosawa wasn’t the only notable director to put out poignant noir tales. Right around this time, filmmaker Tomu Uchida had built quite a name for himself with the numerous jidaigeki pictures he made. Occasionally, Uchida would step away from cinematic depictions of feudal Japan to do something more unique in his filmography, such as his phenomenal crime epic, “A Fugitive from the Past.”
on Amazon by clicking...
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- 9/14/2022
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
Arrow Video floors us with yet another well-curated Japanese masterpiece. For practical purposes, this disc might represent the Western premiere of Tomu Uchida’s three-hour ‘crime and punishment’ saga. Unfolding like a novel and filmed with an unusually gritty visual scheme called ‘the Toei W106 method,’ the story’s timeline is split between 1947 and 1957. It has a strong postwar social statement to make, but the overriding theme is one of spiritual Karma, and the function of guilt in imperfect humans. Several of the actors are just unforgettable, especially Rentarô Mikuni, Junzaburô Ban, and Ken Takakura.
A Fugitive from the Past
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1965 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 183 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 / Kiga kaikyô, Straits of Hunger / Available from Amazon / 39.95
Starring: Rentarô Mikuni, Sachiko Hidari, Ken Takakura, Junzaburô Ban, Kôji Mitsui, Yoshi Katô, Susumu Fujita, Akiko Kazami, Rin’ichi Yamamoto, Tadashi Suganuma.
Cinematography: Hanjirô Nakazawa
Special Effects: Sadao Uemura
Art Director: Mikio Mori...
A Fugitive from the Past
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1965 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 183 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 / Kiga kaikyô, Straits of Hunger / Available from Amazon / 39.95
Starring: Rentarô Mikuni, Sachiko Hidari, Ken Takakura, Junzaburô Ban, Kôji Mitsui, Yoshi Katô, Susumu Fujita, Akiko Kazami, Rin’ichi Yamamoto, Tadashi Suganuma.
Cinematography: Hanjirô Nakazawa
Special Effects: Sadao Uemura
Art Director: Mikio Mori...
- 9/6/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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