Kihachi Okamoto

Very entertaining Kihachi Okamoto feature, and while it is a WWII film, it is also a tribute to John Ford’s Westerns, set in Manchuria. In addition to the regulars in the series, a fine performance by the always lovely Kumi Mizuno.

One of Okamoto’s trademarks is his recessive staging, i.e. the big foreground wide-angle look, the kind of wide-screen composition which is quite common in spaghetti westerns, particularly those of Sergio Leone’s (partly due to the technical problems of the Techniscope format, widely used in Italy in that period). We could notice this signature in Okamoto’s late 50s films already, that is, a few years earlier than Leone and other western directors.Read More »

The memorable directorial debut of Kihachi Okamoto, who later made “Japan’s Longest Day” and “The Battle of Okinawa.” The main character, Yasuko, is a theater student who wants to avoid ending up in a loveless marriage like her brother and sister. The film rhythmically depicts the twists and turns of how Yasuko pursues her dream of being in a love marriage as her father attempts to marry her to a husband of his own choosing. The modernity of the casts’ outfits also shines. The film also amply demonstrates Okamoto’s signature fast cutting speed and good sense of tempo.Read More »

Quote:
Eburi is a 36 year-old man. Nothing enthuses him any more. While being drunk, he promises to contribute a story to a magazine. When he sobers down, he decides to write about the life of a salaried employee like himself who is very ordinary, not particularly talented.
The following is his story:
In 1949, Eburi gets married to Natsuko. His monthly salary is 8,000 yen and hers 4,000 yen. Therefore, both have to work to support themselves. Eburi has developed a habituIl tendency to pester around when he gets drunk. One year after their marriage, son Shosuke is born. In 1959, Eburi’s mother dies in despair of her husband who has become listless due to the several ups and downs of gaining big profits and going bankrupt. His father is still alive and Eburi is enable to find a way to pay his father’s debts.Read More »

Synopsis:
February 17 to March 3, 1860, inside Edo castle. A group of assassins wait by Sakurada Gate to kill the lord of the House of Ii, a powerful man in the Tokugawa government, which has ruled Japan for 300 years. They suspect a traitor in their midst, and their suspicions fall on Niiro, an impoverished ronin who dreams of samurai status, and Kurihara, an aristocratic samurai who befriends Niiro. Niiro longs to identify his father, knowing he is a high-ranking official who will disclose himself only if Niiro achieves samurai status. With American ships in Japan’s harbors, cynicism among the assassins, and change in the air, Niiro resolves to reach ends that may prove ephemeral.Read More »

Quote:
A Nutshell Review: Dixieland Daimyo, 26 October 2006
Author: DICK STEEL from Singapore

My initial reaction was, this sure is one strange movie. Set in the late 19th century and after the end of the American Civil War, three slaves decided to make their way back to Africa, but en route, found themselves on the shores of Japan after a shipwreck. From then on, it’s a weird mix of Japanese shogun intrigue and jazz music fused into a somewhat nonsensical end.Read More »

Quote:
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Peter High: Your war films seem to fall into two categories – those large, epic productions you did for Toho like Gekido no Showa-shi Okinawa kesen (The Battle of Okinawa, 1971) and the low-budget, personal ones financed by yourself, like Nikudan (The Human Bullet, 1968) and Tokkan (Batle Cry, 1975).Read More »

Synopsis:
The sixth generation boss of the Ona yakuza, Daisaku Ona, attempts to return to his old gang after three years in prison, only to discover that it has transformed into a corporation and that its new leader is campaigning as a candidate in the municipal election. The deposed boss finds offense at his old gang’s abandonment of tradition and, with the help of his loyal cellmate and bomb-maker Taro, sets out to take revenge against his usurper with a brilliant idea – a bomb hidden within a fountain pen! Based on Cornell Woolrich’s story “Dipped in Blood”, this tale of generational conflict and uneasy Westernization features a tour-de-force performance by its star, Yunosuke Ito, and is constructed by Kihachi Okamoto as a kind of slapstick musical merging broad comedy and black humor with an eclectic mix of musical and theatrical styles.Read More »

Filmed as a traditional Japanese play, a yakuza boss is released from prison, but finds his gang usurped by a shady politician. With the help of his former cell mate he decides to assassinate the politician with an explosive pen.Read More »

Synopsis:
This is the final movie from Okamoto Kihachi, the filmmaker who directed such great movies as “Sword Of Doom”, “Kill”, and “Red Lion”. With an equal mix of violence and humor he has forged a career that spanned over 4 decades and created some of the most memorable films to ever come out of Japan. This is no exception, and the hand of a master is evident in his treatment of this highly entertaining story. In a world where vendettas are officially sanctioned, the people sometimes needed help in carrying out their vengeance. Read More »