Pitfall (1962)

A man wanders into a seemingly deserted town with his young son in search of work. But after a bit of bad luck, he joins the town's population of lost souls.

Director:

Hiroshi Teshigahara

Writers:

Kôbô Abe (screenplay), Kôbô Abe (story)

Stars:

Hisashi Igawa, Sumie Sasaki, Sen Yano

Cast

Cast overview:
Hisashi Igawa	...	Miner / Otsuka
Sumie Sasaki	...	Shopkeeper
Sen Yano	...	Toyama
Hideo Kanze	...	Policeman
Kunie Tanaka	...	Man in white suit
Kei Satô	...	Reporter
Kazuo Miyahara	...	The miner's son
Akemi Nara
Tadashi Fukuro	...	Second union member
Kikuo Kaneuchi	...	Photographer
Kanichi Ômiya	...	Second miner
Shigeru Matsuo	...	Farmer
Ton Shimada	...	Dead miner
Sanpei Asakura
Heiguro Matsumoto

Storyline

A documentary fantasy. Penniless miners talk in passing about labor unions. A miner and his young son go to a village in Kyushu where the miner has been told he'll find work, but it's a ghost town, save for one woman. The miner leaves and is followed by a man in a white suit and white gloves. A murder takes place: faked footprints, bribery and intrigue, investigations, a frame-up, and a ghost who wants to know why meet in a story of realism and the surreal. A child mutely witnesses all. Does the truth count for anything in this world or in the next? Can everything be manipulated?

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Plot Keywords:

workers' rights | miner | ghost | union | surrealism | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the first of four film collaborations involving director Hiroshi Teshigahara, author Kôbô Abe, and scorer Tôru Takemitsu. Their other film collaborations were Woman in the Dunes (1964), The Face of Another (1966) and The Man Without a Map (1968).

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Connections

Featured in Music for the Movies: Tôru Takemitsu (1994)

User Reviews

Interesting satire

This film is very difficult to find in the West. It's not on video and you'd probably have to be lucky and find it at a film festival or a revival house. It's the first collaboration between director Teshigahara, writer Kodo Abe, and composer Toru Takemitsu, who went on to make the more widely available WOMAN IN THE DUNES and FACE OF ANOTHER. It's not quite as strong as WitD but is on par with FoA. This is a satire about a deserted town who's inhabitants are ghosts swallowed up by corruption. Teshigahara's direction is solid and Takemitsu comes up with another appropriately dissonant score balancing tension and humor. It's worth seeing for anyone interested in the three principal collaborators, particularly since opportunities to see it are rare. Takemitsu in particular could almost single handedly make a movie worth watching.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

1 July 1962 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Pitfall

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$30,078

Company Credits

Production Co:

Teshigahara Productions, Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1