Kamatari Fujiwara

  • Kon Ichikawa – Pu-san AKA Mr.Pu (1953)

    Kon Ichikawa1951-1960ComedyDramaJapan

    Introduction
    A dark satire of a contemporary Japan still exhausted from the aftermath of war, hunger, poverty and unemployment.And just as its people are recovering, there is a threat during these Cold War years of renewed militarism and rearm…Read More »

  • Kajirô Yamamoto – Wagahai wa neko de aru AKA I am a Cat (1936)

    1931-1940AsianDramaJapanKajirô Yamamoto

    Quote:
    It’s the first film adaptation of Natsumi Soseki’s novel “I Am a Cat”, but I was a little disappointed when I saw it with high expectations, because it’s less than 90 minutes long and there’s no monologue about the cat, so it’s just me in the middle of the human drama. Before that, there are only a few scenes in which I appear.

    The world situation at the time of the Russo-Japanese War has been replaced by that of World War I (the attack on Qingdao is shown in a newspaper article. However, since it was filmed before the war, the scenery has a certain feel to it. This atmosphere is something you can’t get in a postwar film.Read More »

  • Kajirô Yamamoto & Akira Kurosawa – Uma aka Horse (1941)

    1941-1950Akira KurosawaAsianDramaJapan

    The story of the film is simple: A young girl in the countryside raises a young horse and develops a deep relationship to the animal. But the war is becoming part of life, so in the end she has to sacrifice her horse and sell it to the military.Read More »

  • Mikio Naruse – Uwasa no musume aka The Girl in the Rumor (1935)

    1931-1940DramaJapanMikio Naruse

    Quote:
    A story of two sisters, the older being more traditional, the younger a “moga” (“modern girl”). Their widowed father runs the family sake shop — but is running into financial trouble (causing him to make some bad decisions). Meanwhile, his long-time mistress’s little business is also on the rocks. Amidst this, the older sister is introduced to a well-off suitor (a university boy who is much more intrigued by the less traditional “little sister”). Add a dotty grandfather, an officious uncle and busy body neighbors.Read More »

  • Mikio Naruse – Aki tachinu AKA Autumn Has Already Started (1960)

    1951-1960AsianDramaJapanMikio Naruse

    Shigeko, a recently widowed mother from Nagano,brings Hideo,her sixth-grade son,to live with his uncle in Tokiyo.Shigeko soon gets a job at the Mishima hotel.The shy Hideo doesn´t respond wellto his newsurroundings,preferring the companyof hisKabutomushi (helmet beetle ) to that of other people.He does,however,meet Junko,daughter of the woman who runs the Mishima and the two become goods friends.Junko´s mother has a patron who supports her and one day he comes to the city with his legitimate family. Junko feels inferior to his real children.Hideo too experiences the sorrow ot wathching his mother Shigeko prepare to go out with one of her patrons (Tomioka).Meanwhile,his beetle disappears and he depends more and more on Juko for companionship.hideo´s aunt sends him a replacement beetle.Elated,he runs to tell Junko,only to discover that she has left Tokyo and the Mishima has been sold.Saddened,Hideo brings his beetle to the roof of a building and looks out on the Tokyo skyline.Read More »

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