Yasuzô Masumura

  • Yasuzô Masumura – Koshoku ichidai otoko AKA A Lustful Man (1961) (HD)

    Yasuzô Masumura1961-1970AsianComedyJapan
    Koshoku ichidai otoko (1961) (HD)
    Koshoku ichidai otoko (1961) (HD)

    Fascinated with women from an early age, Yonosuke (Ichikawa Raizo) had his first sexual encounter at the age of seven. From that day on, he recklessly and forwardly pursues women, feeding his fascination and experience. As Yonosuke’s salacious behavior brings much cause for shame to the family, his father eventually breaks relations with him. Expelled from the family, 19-year-old Yonosuke embarks on a pilgrimage of lust, traveling far and wide to acquaint himself with women of all walks.Read More »

  • 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 »

  • Yasuzô Masumura – Tsumiki no hako AKA The House of Wooden Blocks (1968)

    1961-1970DramaJapanYasuzô Masumura

    Synopsis:
    Masumura’s 40th film, for which he collaborated on the script, shows plot irrationality perhaps due to the newspaper serial original, perhaps to the adolescent behavior he portrays. The extremes of self-sacrifice in some of the characters such as Hisayo and Sugiura contrast too sharply with the animal brutality of Sasabayashi and Namie, and the result is more caricature than realism. The harsh selfishness of Ichiro¯ and the abrupt techniques used to present his interior thoughts (double exposure of a naked Yuri as he undresses her with his eyes) prevent him in the end from winning audience sympathy. Part of a late sixties trend toward adolescent sexuality subject matter.Read More »

  • Yasuzô Masumura – Yakuza zesshô AKA A Fine Yakuza Song AKA The Final Payoff (1970)

    Yasuzô Masumura1961-1970AsianCrimeJapan

    A yakuza member’s half-sister means much more to him, in a film that repeatedly depicts realities other than what normal societal rules allow. The overly protective and loving brother; however, soon has to contend with his sister falling for and dating her school teacher, but there is not much he can do about it if he is going to land in jail for stepping outside the bounds of the law.Read More »

  • Yasuzô Masumura – Otto ga mita ‘Onna no kobako’ yori AKA The Husband Witnessed (1964)

    Yasuzô Masumura1961-1970AsianDramaJapan

    Synopsis:
    The young owner of the nightclub,Ishizuka(Jiro Tamiya) is attracted to
    a beautiful married woman, Namiko(Ayako Wakao) and is falling in love with her. However, Ishizuka forms a plot to take over Namikos husbands company through greenmail. Masumura portayed the love ,conspiracy, betrayal between a man and a woman tenaciously. The elements of noir and melodrama are balanced in quite exquisite harmony.Read More »

  • Yasuzô Masumura – Nise daigakusei AKA A False Student (1960)

    Yasuzô Masumura1951-1960ComedyJapanPolitics

    Quote:
    This is one of my very favorite films. I was lucky enough to see a 35 print of it at a Masumura retrospective. A near perfect pitch black comedy, the flick also has some very compelling material regarding activism (a potent topic for the student movement the film is based on). Masumura’s like the Japanese Sam Fuller, but then again, I think this film is better than any of the Fullers I’ve seen.Read More »

  • Yasuzô Masumura – Tsuma futari AKA Two Wives (1967)

    Yasuzô Masumura1961-1970AsianDramaJapan

    Synopsis:
    After a random encounter at a bar, two couples collide. Two men, two women, embroiled in a love-and-hate drama that threatens to engulf them. The sexual anxiety between the interwoven couples tautens right up to the nearly unbearable tension of the climax, in this rare masterpiece by the director of Manji and Blind Beast.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 »

  • Yasuzo Masumura – Sekkusu chekku: Daini no sei aka The Sex Check (1968)

    1961-1970AsianDramaJapanYasuzô Masumura

    Quote:
    Ogata’s first leading role was in Masumura’s Sex Check — the Second Sex (1968). Here, Ogata plays Shiro Miyagi, a sprinter with Olympic aspirations whose dreams were shattered by WWII. A broken man, he leads the dissolute life of a gigolo until a chance meeting with a fiery young athlete named Hiroko (Michiyo Yasuda, who also plays Naomi in A Fool’s Love). Realizing that she has talent as a sprinter, Miyagi sees a second chance at Olympic glory in becoming her coach. Following Miyagi’s unconventional, military-style training, Hiroko sets a record for the 100-meter dash, but her greatest hurdle proves to be a “sex check” which all professional athletes must pass. The Second Sex shows the love-hate relationship between athlete and coach as a means to explore a hypothesis about gender, androgyny, and human potential. This is, simply put, an unclassifiable film.Read More »

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