Ready for some full- on Japanese sentimentality? Superlative tough guy Ken Takakura takes us deep into heartbreak territory in search of a happy ending. Yoji Yamada’s Hokkaido road epic throws together a trio of ‘drifters of the heart’ to see if they can solve each other’s romantic dilemmas.
The Yellow Handkerchief
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1978 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date November 14, 2017 / Shiawase no kiiroi hankachi / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 24.95
Starring: Ken Takakura, Chieko Baisho, Kaori Momoi, Tetsuya Takeda, Hisao Dazai, Makoto Akatsuka, Mari Okamato.
Cinematography: Tetsuo Takaha
Film Editor: Iwao Ishii
Original Music: Masaru Sato
Written by Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama
Produced by Toru Najima
Directed by Yoji Yamada
Americans can experience difficulty navigating the sometimes- confusing sphere of Japanese humor. Cartoons, children’s films, action movies often seem crude or cruel, but can also be unexpectedly delicate. And some cultural barriers are still there — nobody...
The Yellow Handkerchief
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1978 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date November 14, 2017 / Shiawase no kiiroi hankachi / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 24.95
Starring: Ken Takakura, Chieko Baisho, Kaori Momoi, Tetsuya Takeda, Hisao Dazai, Makoto Akatsuka, Mari Okamato.
Cinematography: Tetsuo Takaha
Film Editor: Iwao Ishii
Original Music: Masaru Sato
Written by Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama
Produced by Toru Najima
Directed by Yoji Yamada
Americans can experience difficulty navigating the sometimes- confusing sphere of Japanese humor. Cartoons, children’s films, action movies often seem crude or cruel, but can also be unexpectedly delicate. And some cultural barriers are still there — nobody...
- 11/25/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
**Massive spoilers for every Godzilla movie, with the exception of the 2014 reboot, and Mothra follow**
August 6th and 9th, 1945 forever changed the course of history. When the first nuclear bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, World War II ended, but a new fear was born that dominated the thoughts of all men, women, and children for decades to come. The Cold War, atomic bomb testing, a cartoon turtle telling children to “duck and cover”, and this new technology that had the actual potential to literally end the world changed the perception of what was scary. Art reflects life, so cinema began to capitalize on these fears. Gone were the days of creepy castles, cobwebs, bats, vampires, werewolves, and the other iconic images that ruled genre cinema in film’s earliest decades. Science fiction was larger than ever and giant ants, giant octopi, terror from beyond the stars, and...
August 6th and 9th, 1945 forever changed the course of history. When the first nuclear bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, World War II ended, but a new fear was born that dominated the thoughts of all men, women, and children for decades to come. The Cold War, atomic bomb testing, a cartoon turtle telling children to “duck and cover”, and this new technology that had the actual potential to literally end the world changed the perception of what was scary. Art reflects life, so cinema began to capitalize on these fears. Gone were the days of creepy castles, cobwebs, bats, vampires, werewolves, and the other iconic images that ruled genre cinema in film’s earliest decades. Science fiction was larger than ever and giant ants, giant octopi, terror from beyond the stars, and...
- 11/4/2014
- by Max Molinaro
- 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
Sanjuro
Written by Ryuzo Kikushima and Akira Kurosawa
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1962
A small band of nine samurai convene in an isolated shrine in the woods to discuss a most pressing mater: the corruption that has reportedly seeped its way into the workings of their clan’s highest ranking officials. Unbeknownst to them a ronin, Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) has been eavesdropping on their deliberations and, in his usual gruff manner, offers his help to eventually expose and squash the ne’re do wells. The nine warriors are initially suspicious of Sanjuro’s unorthodox approach but quickly realize he is an powerful asset in their quest to right wrongs once the ronin dispatches a series of foes with forcefulness and efficiency before their very eyes. Perhaps even more intriguing is the fact that Sanjuro’s violent act of self-defense convinces the clan’s top enforcer, Hanbei Muroto (Tatsuya Nakadai), to offer him a job.
Written by Ryuzo Kikushima and Akira Kurosawa
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1962
A small band of nine samurai convene in an isolated shrine in the woods to discuss a most pressing mater: the corruption that has reportedly seeped its way into the workings of their clan’s highest ranking officials. Unbeknownst to them a ronin, Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) has been eavesdropping on their deliberations and, in his usual gruff manner, offers his help to eventually expose and squash the ne’re do wells. The nine warriors are initially suspicious of Sanjuro’s unorthodox approach but quickly realize he is an powerful asset in their quest to right wrongs once the ronin dispatches a series of foes with forcefulness and efficiency before their very eyes. Perhaps even more intriguing is the fact that Sanjuro’s violent act of self-defense convinces the clan’s top enforcer, Hanbei Muroto (Tatsuya Nakadai), to offer him a job.
- 4/26/2014
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
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