The psychological effect war has on the human mind is unimaginable. Following the end of World War II, many anti-war projects would come out of the Japanese entertainment industry from visionaries like Kon Ichikawa, Kaneto Shindo, and Masaki Kobayashi. Jingoistic propaganda was no longer as common and wasn’t being forced upon artists anymore by militarists. Many post-war Japanese war films stand by a humanist nature while reminding audiences how horrific errors should not be repeated. A notable reminder of evolving from past mistakes in history is the superb political thriller “Japan’s Longest Day.”
Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Kazutoshi Hando and Soichi Oya, this haunting recollection of disturbing events would kickstart the “Toho 8.15 series,” a collection of war movies that recreate Japan’s war history. Fittingly, nihilistic filmmaker and anti-war advocate Kihachi Okamoto would be appointed as the movie’s director and frequent...
Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Kazutoshi Hando and Soichi Oya, this haunting recollection of disturbing events would kickstart the “Toho 8.15 series,” a collection of war movies that recreate Japan’s war history. Fittingly, nihilistic filmmaker and anti-war advocate Kihachi Okamoto would be appointed as the movie’s director and frequent...
- 8/3/2022
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
The movies produced by the Art Theatre Guild form one of the most interesting part of Japanese movie history, particularly because the filmmakers involved enjoyed unprecedented creative and artistic freedom, which resulted in a series of truly unique films. This is the main reason that we decided to deal with the particular titles for our February and March tribute, one that will definitely continue until we manage to have articles for all. Until then, however, and in a tactic we will continue with the rest of our tributes, we decided to also publish a synopsizing list of the movies we already wrote about, one that will expand as more articles come in. Here is what we have as of now, in chronological order.
1. A Man Vanishes (1967) by Shohei Imamura
Right from the beginning, we get an impression of an utterly chaotic experiment, while, as the story unfolds, we can figure...
1. A Man Vanishes (1967) by Shohei Imamura
Right from the beginning, we get an impression of an utterly chaotic experiment, while, as the story unfolds, we can figure...
- 3/28/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Although mostly known to the West for his samurai films, “Samurai Assassin” and “The Sword of Doom” among others, Kihachi Okamoto’s more than 40 long filmography also includes a cooperation with the Art Theatre Guild, in an anti-war satire that is as antithetical to the Toho’s commercially successful star-studded war epic “Japan’s Longest Day as possible.
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“The Human Bullet” focuses on an unnamed soldier mentioned as Him, who undergoes a rather unusual trip from his training to his visit to various locations around the base, including a second-hand bookstore, the desert, and a village filled of prostitutes, before he is send off to serve his country as a Human Bullet, which is how the film refers to the Kamikazis.
Following a scene where Him is the only one training naked in explosives, the story then shows how this absurd event came to be, through a scene that might...
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“The Human Bullet” focuses on an unnamed soldier mentioned as Him, who undergoes a rather unusual trip from his training to his visit to various locations around the base, including a second-hand bookstore, the desert, and a village filled of prostitutes, before he is send off to serve his country as a Human Bullet, which is how the film refers to the Kamikazis.
Following a scene where Him is the only one training naked in explosives, the story then shows how this absurd event came to be, through a scene that might...
- 3/6/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Brilliant filmmaking from Japan: Yasuzô Masumura’s film all but screams in protest, that unfettered consumer capitalism is cannibalism, plain and simple. In the radical director’s scathing, savage satire, Tokyo’s desperate advertising ‘Mad Men’ create a fresh new star celebrity to promote their product, only for the warfare of cutthroat competition to shatter careers, fortunes and basic human values. Masumura’s cinematic onslaught is at least ten years ahead of its time, in design, direction, writing and music — the movie outpaces American comedies about Succeeding in Business, recognizing that the tyranny of commercial media trashes the quality of life itself. Arrow’s informed and insightful Blu-ray extras ask the important question: how can one movie get this complex subject so completely right?
Giants and Toys
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Kyojin to gangu, The Build-Up / Street Date May 11, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Hitomi Nozoe, Yunosuke Ito, Kinzo Shin,...
Giants and Toys
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Kyojin to gangu, The Build-Up / Street Date May 11, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Hitomi Nozoe, Yunosuke Ito, Kinzo Shin,...
- 5/25/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
With the end of World War II and Japan’s defeat, a period of political and social re-orientation took place which then set the foundation for an economic rise on the following decade. Attracted by the capitalist business model, a new kind of war broke out, which, in contrast to the Cold War, was not of ideologies, but one solely based on sales, opportunities and finance. Apart from Japan, many other nations and cultures experienced a rise in importance in the archetype of the businessman and -woman, with concepts such as “free market” and “global economy” having a certain ring to them, of freedom and independence. At the same time, this era also paved the way for a decline in certain values, since morals or dignity take second place next to profit in the eyes of the company. In Japan, Yasuzo Masumura’s satire “Giants and Toys”, based on a novel by Takeshi Kaiko,...
- 4/25/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The Invisible Man Appears / The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly
Blu ray
Arrow Films
1949, 1957 / 1.33:1 / 87, 96 min.
Starring Chizuru Kitagawa, Takiko Mizunoe
Cinematography by Hideo Ishimoto, Hiroshi Murai
Directed by Nobuo Adachi, Mitsuo Murayama
Founded in 1942, Daiei Films appealed to the hearts and minds of movie-goers with a remarkably diverse catalog. Movies like Akira Kurosawa’s enigmatic Rashomon and Koji Shima’s apocalyptic Warning from Space were emblematic of the studio’s output—high art or low, Daiei took the same discerning approach to their productions, no matter the subject matter. At times the company may have been too thoughtful—for a movie that featured giant starfish aliens as a selling point, Warning from Space takes a dark turn toward real-world catastrophe that might have put some audiences off their popcorn. And the Saturday Matinee thrills of the Daimajin films—an early sixties trilogy featuring a sky-scraping samurai—go sour...
Blu ray
Arrow Films
1949, 1957 / 1.33:1 / 87, 96 min.
Starring Chizuru Kitagawa, Takiko Mizunoe
Cinematography by Hideo Ishimoto, Hiroshi Murai
Directed by Nobuo Adachi, Mitsuo Murayama
Founded in 1942, Daiei Films appealed to the hearts and minds of movie-goers with a remarkably diverse catalog. Movies like Akira Kurosawa’s enigmatic Rashomon and Koji Shima’s apocalyptic Warning from Space were emblematic of the studio’s output—high art or low, Daiei took the same discerning approach to their productions, no matter the subject matter. At times the company may have been too thoughtful—for a movie that featured giant starfish aliens as a selling point, Warning from Space takes a dark turn toward real-world catastrophe that might have put some audiences off their popcorn. And the Saturday Matinee thrills of the Daimajin films—an early sixties trilogy featuring a sky-scraping samurai—go sour...
- 4/17/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Perhaps it is one of the great ironies in the career of Japanese director Kihachi Okamoto that a film he was forced to do was going to be his most memorable one. In a filmography consisting of titles such as “Samurai Assassin” (1965), “Kill!” (1968) and “The Human Bullet” (1968), the director’s 1966-film “The Sword of Doom” stands out as one of the bleakest jidaigeki movies. Based on the novel “Daibosatsu toge” by Kaizan Nakazato, which had already inspired many adaptations, for example, one by “Lone Wolf and Cub”-director Kenji Misumi, Kihachi Okamoto made a film which reflected the trends of the Japanese film industry of that time but is also one of the most interesting portrayals of a man, a world consumed by violence and madness.
At the center of the film, we have Ryunosuke Tsukue (Tatsuya Nakadai), a master swordsman wandering the country, and his life...
At the center of the film, we have Ryunosuke Tsukue (Tatsuya Nakadai), a master swordsman wandering the country, and his life...
- 10/29/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Sword of Doom
Written by Shinobu Hashimoto
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto
Japan, 1966
Teenager Omatsu (Yoko Naito) and her grandfather walk atop a hill in the Japanese countryside on a beautiful day. While Omatsu leaves for a few moments to fetch water, her grandfather is discovered and ruthlessly struck down by a renegade samurai named Ryunosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai). The latter’s actions are but a sampling of his psychotic streak which leaves his underserving victims in the dust. Ryunosuke is a madman, but one gifted with glorious samurai skills, thus making him a highly coveted tool despite his staunchly anti-social personality. His actions on the hilltop thrust into motion a series of events that will see Ryunosuke’s sanity put to the test. He will go on to kill the brother of a young but highly skilled swordsman named Hyoma Utsuki (Yuzo Kayama), the latter whom will fall in love with the beautiful Omatsu.
Written by Shinobu Hashimoto
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto
Japan, 1966
Teenager Omatsu (Yoko Naito) and her grandfather walk atop a hill in the Japanese countryside on a beautiful day. While Omatsu leaves for a few moments to fetch water, her grandfather is discovered and ruthlessly struck down by a renegade samurai named Ryunosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai). The latter’s actions are but a sampling of his psychotic streak which leaves his underserving victims in the dust. Ryunosuke is a madman, but one gifted with glorious samurai skills, thus making him a highly coveted tool despite his staunchly anti-social personality. His actions on the hilltop thrust into motion a series of events that will see Ryunosuke’s sanity put to the test. He will go on to kill the brother of a young but highly skilled swordsman named Hyoma Utsuki (Yuzo Kayama), the latter whom will fall in love with the beautiful Omatsu.
- 2/7/2015
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Perhaps Criterion has been paying attention to my Best Movies posts. Next week sees the release of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita on Blu-ray, which was the first installment in my Best Movies feature and a title I'll be reviewing later this week, and now my third installment, Kihachi Okamoto's The Sword of Doom will be arriving on January 6 with a new high-definition digital restoration. Unfortunately the Sword of Doom release won't come with any new features, though the film, Hiroshi Murai's cinematography, Masaru Sato's score and an audio commentary from Stephen Prince will do for me as that is a title that simply must be part of my collection. Also coming in January is Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant on January 13, Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg on January 20, Preston Sturges's 1942 comedy The Palm Beach Story starring Claudette Colbert...
- 10/15/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The list of great samurai films is long and it would probably consume a person's entire lifetime if they were to seek them all out in an attempt to satisfy any measure of a comprehensive list. Several of the known greats I have yet to see and most likely those that are new to the genre will start in the most obvious of places, that being the films of Akira Kurosawa, most specifically Seven Samurai and then probably Yojimbo, two films that will certainly be included on my Best Movies list before all is said and done along with several others, but as I said, the list is long. That said, I didn't want my first samurai entry on my Best Movies list to be an entirely obvious one, though fans of samurai films will no doubt be familiar with Kihachi Okamoto's The Sword of Doom. The first film...
- 5/30/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
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