Asian

  • Akira Kurosawa – Rashomon (1950)

    1941-1950Akira KurosawaAsianDramaJapan

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    Plot:

    As the film opens, three characters seek shelter from a driving rainstorm (it never sprinkles in a Kurosawa film!) beneath the ruined Rashomon gate that guards the southern entrance to the court capital. As they wait for the storm to pass, the priest (Minoru Chiaki), the woodcutter (Takashi Shimura), and the commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) discuss a recent and scandalous crime––a noblewoman (Machiko Kyo) was raped in the forest, her samurai husband (Masayuki Mori) killed as a result of either murder or suicide, and a thief named Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune) was arrested for the crime.Read More »

  • Kinji Fukasaku – Dôtonborigawa AKA Lovers Lost (1982)

    1981-1990AsianDramaJapanKinji Fukasaku

    A love story between a 29-year-old woman, who has once been a prostitute but is now the mistress of a wealthy jewelry merchant, and a 19-year-old college student.Read More »

  • Masaki Kobayashi – Inochi bô ni furô aka Inn of Evil (1971)

    1971-1980AsianDramaJapanMasaki Kobayashi

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    Plot Synopsis [SamuraiDVD.com]
    This is another masterpiece from filmmaker KOBAYASHI Masaki, noted director of HARA KIRI, KWAIDAN, and SAMURAI REBELLION. The Japanese title is actually translated as “We give our lives for nothing”, and is the true heart and soul of this story. Based on a novel by YAMAMOTO Shugoro, who also wrote the books upon which SANJURO, KILL, and AFTER THE RAIN, were based, it tells the tale of a group of thieves and murderers who find it within themselves to sacrifice their lives with no hope of personal gain. NAKADAI Tatsuya stars as Sada, an expert with knives, whose mysterious past comes to light as he leads a group of fugitives in their last-ditch battle to save their home, a dilapidated inn, which does not welcome strangers in its doors. KATSU Shintaro plays against type in a pivotal role as one of the only outsiders ever allowed to drink at the inn. Tension and suspense lead up to a conclusion like no other. A magnificent motion picture, and a true work of art.Read More »

  • Masahiro Shinoda – Himiko (1974)

    1971-1980ArthouseAsianJapanMasahiro Shinoda

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    Quote:
    An imagined life of the prehistoric Japanese Queen Himiko, based loosely on a few mentions in Chinese chronicles. Himiko is presented as the head priestess of the Sun Goddess cult and a spirit medium. This cult later was used by the Japanese Imperial family as their claim to rule. Himiko is made queen when the king is killed, but lets the men around her rule. She is then deposed and killed because she lusts after her half-brother, who is more interested in Adahime, who supports the Earth Goddess.Read More »

  • Tan Ida – Bakuhatsu sanbyômae aka 3 Seconds Before Explosion (1967)

    1961-1970ActionAsianJapanTan Ida

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    A renegade superspy infiltrates a violent gang of international jewel thieves in this fast-paced crime thriller from Nikkatsu Studios. His killer instincts honed to deadly perfection by a shadowy espionage bureau, Yabuki (Akira Kobayashi) abandons the organization that rained him and joins forces with fearless mercenary Yamawaki (Hideki Takahashi) to follow a trail of jewels stolen during the last days of World War II. When that trail leads Yabuki and Yamawaki to the highest levels of government and corporate malfeasance, the conspiracy is blown sky high and the bullets start to fly.Read More »

  • Akira Kurosawa – Shizukanaru ketto AKA A Silent Duel (1949)

    1941-1950Akira KurosawaAsianDramaJapan

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    Synopsis
    Toshirō Mifune (in the second of many films with Kurosawa), plays a young idealistic doctor, still a virgin, who works at his father’s (Takashi Shimura) clinic in a small and seedy district. However, during the war, he contracts syphilis from the blood of a patient when he cuts himself during an operation. Treating himself in secret and tormented by his conscience and celibacy, he rejects his heartbroken fiancée without explanation.Read More »

  • Akira Kurosawa – Tengoku to jigoku AKA High and Low (1963)

    1961-1970Akira KurosawaAsianDramaJapan

    Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

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    Synopsis
    “Criterion” wrote:
    Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in Akira Kurosawa’s highly influential High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku). Adapting Ed McBain’s detective novel King’s Ransom, Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a penetrating portrait of contemporary Japanese society.Read More »

  • Akira Kurosawa – Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi AKA They Who Step on the Tiger’s Tail (1945)

    1941-1950Akira KurosawaAsianDramaJapan

    http://www.laserdisken.dk/billeder/forsidestor/101698944137543199.jpg

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    The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail, the fourth film from Akira Kurosawa, is based on
    a legendary twelfth-century incident in which the lord Yoshitsune, with the help of a group of samurai, crosses enemy territory disguised as a monk. The story was dramatized for centuries in Noh and Kabuki theater, and here it becomes one of the director’s lightest, most farcical films.

    Boris Trbic@Senese of Cinema wrote:

    Akira Kurosawa’s They Who Step on the Tiger’s Tail is a film version of a twelfth century Japanese tale which forms the central narrative of the Noh drama Ataka and the popular Kabuki play, Kanjincho. Along with Sanshiro Sugata (1943), The Most Beautiful (1944) and Sanshiro Sugata-Part Two (1945), this is the fourth film Kurosawa shot during World War Two. He completed the script in only a few days, and, adhering to the strict regulations of the Japanese military authorities, convinced the producer that he would shoot the entire footage in one location. However, the filming coincided with the end of the war and Kurosawa completed the shoot during the early days of the American occupation.Read More »

  • Yoshitaro Nomura – Suna no utsuwa AKA The Castle of Sand (1974)

    1971-1980AsianCrimeJapanYoshitaro Nomura

    Very intriguing film from whom many consider the Hitchcock of Japan, Yoshitaro Nomura.

    “Two detectives, Imanishi and Yoshimura, are assigned to the murder of a 60-year-old man whose body was found dumped in a railroad yard. It turns to be that of a former policeman, Miki; the murder now seems even more mysterious, as Miki was well liked by all and had been on holiday when he was killed. The detectives visit all the places to which Miki has traveled, with little luck, but then they read an account buried in a lengthy report of how Miki years before had befriended a destitute, leprous man and his young son. Amazingly, that boy had grown up to become Eiryo Waga, a rising star in the music world. Could such an eminent figure have anything to do with the murder? Read More »

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