Eiji Funakoshi

  • Yasuzô Masumura – Kuro no chôtokkyu AKA The Black Express (1964)

    Yasuzô Masumura1961-1970CrimeJapanThriller
    Kuro no chôtokkyu (1964)
    Kuro no chôtokkyu (1964)

    Quote:
    Basically the plot revolves around an endebted entreprenor who sell his fields to a business-man who plan to build an car-factory. Instead of this factory, the fields will prove to be used for the Shinkansen line. Then, the endebted entreprenor will seek back the business-man for get much more money he deserved in this real trade.

    Another not-so subtle critic of capitalism, but some good dark thriller moments and a great&painful strangulation sequence!Read More »

  • Kon Ichikawa – Ana AKA Hole In One (1957)

    1951-1960ComedyDramaJapanKon Ichikawa

    Eccentric film about female reporter fired for writing about police corruption. To make money she hides while a weekly magazine offers a prize for her discovery. A bank embezzler and his underlings take advantage of her disappearance to pin the theft on her, as well as the murder of the weak link in their gang. Meanwhile, the cop she got fired is now a private detective and he gets involved in the investigation. Another example of Ichikawa’s mixing of farcical genre filmmaking with perspicacious visual design. Comic highlights include an intentions of murder scene in which each shot reveals the gap in knowledge between potential perpetrator and victim, and the role of unseen objects in accidentally protecting the latter from the former. Another cynical film that finds in cinema a model for the superficial image society of 1950s Japan.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Shimizu – Odoriko aka Dancing Girl (1957)

    1951-1960AsianDramaHiroshi ShimizuJapan

    In Asakusa, Tokyo, a couple of a violinist Yamano and a revue dancer Hanae lives in poverty. One day Hanae’s little sister rolls into their apartment and begins to stir things up with her riotousness.Read More »

  • Yasuzo Masumura – Blind Beast AKA Môjuu (1969)

    1961-1970CultHorrorJapanYasuzô Masumura

    Blind Beast is a grotesque portrait of the bizarre relationship between a blind sculptor and his captive muse, adapted from a short story from Japan’s foremost master of the macabre, Edogawa Rampo (Horrors of Malformed Men, The Black Lizard, Caterpillar).Read More »

  • Kôzaburô Yoshimura – Yoru no chô AKA Night Butterflies (1957)

    Kôzaburô Yoshimura1951-1960ClassicsDramaJapan

    Synopsis:
    As Japan became more prosperous, the Ginza district of Tokyo emerged as the luxury bar and cabaret center it remains to this day. While the charming and beautiful women who operate these establishments are privy to political and financial deals of national importance, Yoshimura’s film reveals that their hopes, their businesses and their very lives are as fragile as butterflies.Read More »

  • Kinuyo Tanaka – Ruten no ôhi AKA The Wandering Princess (1960)

    1951-1960AsianDramaJapanJapanese Female DirectorsKinuyo Tanaka

    Pu Zhe, the younger brother of the Emperor of Manchukuo, Pu Wen, marries Ryuko the daughter of a long-established aristocratic family – all in the interest of the Japanese rulers, which legitimizes the relationship between Japan and its Chinese puppet state. To the surprise of all , a deep love between Pu Zhe and Ryuko develops. It is put to the test when Japan loses the war, Manchukuo is dissolved and the imperial court must flee. The lovers now have to separate: Pu Zhe tries to escape to Japan with his brother, while Ryuko flees with her daughter Eisei over the country. A film on the relationship between Pujie (1907-94), brother of the “last emperor” Puyi and his second wife, Marquise Hiro Saga (1914-87).Read More »

  • Yasuzô Masumura – Kuro no tesuto kaa AKA Black Test Car (1962)

    1961-1970CrimeJapanThrillerYasuzô Masumura

    Synopsis:
    Two car manufacturers spy on each other to try to find out details and prices of a new sports car each is about to launch.

    Review:
    Yasuzo Masumura’s 1962 spy thriller Black Test Car pits rival agencies against each other in an escalating game of theft, deceit, and sabotage. And no, the title isn’t a mistranslation. The movie opens with the Tiger corporation suffering through a disastrous test run for its latest sports-car model, the Pioneer.Read More »

  • Kon Ichikawa – Nobi AKA Fires on the Plain (1959) (HD)

    1951-1960DramaJapanKon IchikawaWar

    Synopsis
    In the closing days of WWII remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain starvation.Read More »

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