Quote:
Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan’s national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida’s rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure of speech — (essentially “last minute” or “eleventh hour”) — that refers to a situation of peril. The film boasts a script co-written by Uchida and Akira Kurosawa’s frequent screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, and stars Kurosawa’s frequent star Takashi Shimura.Read More »
Eiji Okada
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Tomu Uchida – Dotanba AKA The Eleventh Hour (1957)
1951-1960AsianClassicsJapanTomu Uchida -
Kiyoshi Nishimura – Bara no hyôteki AKA The Target of Roses (1972)
1971-1980ActionAsianJapanKiyoshi NishimuraBara no hyôteki (1972)
A gunslinger is hired to kill a news photographer. The young ward of the shot photographer discovers the set-up behind the killing – that a laboratory is being set up by a Nazi organization to capture and train talented youth and that the photographer was about to expose it.Read More » -
Mikio Naruse – Okasan aka Mother (1952)
1951-1960AsianDramaJapanMikio NaruseSynopsis:
Based on a girl’s prize-winning school essay on the subject of “My Mother”. Mizuki Yoko fashioned one of her most moving scripts. Upon the death of her husband the mother (Tanaka Kinuyo) runs the family laundry by herself. She is helped by her first daughter (Kagawa Kyoko) bust must send her second daughter to live with relatives because she cannot afford to keep her. A real shomingeki with lots of heart
— Donald Richie, A Hundred Years of Japanese Film.Read More » -
Nobuhiko Ôbayashi – Furimukeba ai AKA Take Me Away! (1978)
1971-1980ArthouseJapanNobuhiko ObayashiRomanceQuote:
Kyoko met Tetsu during her trip to San Francisco. Soon they fell in love but getting married was not in his mind. They were to meet again back in Tokyo but Tetsu didn’t turn up.Read More » -
Susumu Hani – Kanojo to kare AKA She and He (1963)
1961-1970ArthouseClassicsJapanSusumu HaniQuote:
One of Hani’s recurring themes was the status of women in modern society. His first attempt at the subject was this Antonioniesque melodrama set in a sterile high rise complex. A woman resident becomes discontent with the empty life she and her husband are leading. They encounter a street beggar who lives in poverty with his dog and a blind orphan. The woman becomes fascinated by the beggar’s world and pursues a friendship which leads to terrible discord and a tragedy.Read More » -
Kimiyoshi Yasuda – Shin Zatôichi monogatari: Kasama no chimatsuri AKA Zatoichi’s Conspiracy AKA Zatoichi at the Blood Fest (1973)
1971-1980ActionJapanKimiyoshi YasudaMartial ArtsZatoichi returns to his home village for the first time in over ten years to find much has changed and that corruption abounds.Read More »
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Kihachi Okamoto – Burû Kurisumasu AKA UFO Blue Christmas (1978)
1971-1980DramaJapanKihachi OkamotoSci-FiUFOs appear on Earth, and people who actually see them suddenly find that their blood has turned blue. Soon panic and hysteria result in the new “blue-bloods” being persecuted by the rest of mankind, and eventually certain all-too-familiar measures begin to be taken against them.Read More »
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George Englund – The Ugly American (1963)
1961-1970DramaGeorge EnglundPoliticsUSAThe Ugly American (1963)
An intelligent, articulate scholar, Harrison MacWhite, survives a hostile Senate confirmation hearing at the hands of conservatives to become ambassador to Sarkan, a southeast Asian country where civil war threatens a tense peace. Despite his knowledge, once he’s there, MacWhite sees only a dichotomy between the U.S. and Communism. He can’t accept that anti-American sentiment might be a longing for self-determination and nationalism. So, he breaks from his friend Deong, a local opposition leader, ignores a foreman’s advice about slowing the building of a road, and tries to muscle ahead. What price must the country and his friends pay for him to get some sense? Read More »