Tai Katô

Tange Sazen was at first, the character in Fubo Hayashi’s novel. Director Ito Daisuke made this one-armed, one-eyed man an nihilistic, alienated hero, representing the anarchic energy and rebellious spirit of the time. Then Yamanaka Sadao came in and made a parodic retelling of the story and completely rewrote this image of Sazen by changing him into a child-loving, openhearted, and good-natured ronin living in a tenement house with his lover. Now, as Yamanaka’s nephew, Tai Kato rewrote Sazen’s image too, and the film is imbued with satire and humor, albeit different from his uncle’s.Read More »

Light-hearted samurai comedy. The second son of a feudal lord runs away from an arranged marriage. He saves the life of a princess whom he gets to fall in love with. It turns out that she is just his prospective bride.Read More »

Japanese drama.Read More »

A former soldier is caught working the black market and sent to prison while his partner escapes and goes on to become a gangster, but their paths cross again as they both fall in love with the same woman.Read More »

Wandering gambler movie filled with humor and compassion. An odd couple of a gangster and a masterless samurai becomes involved in a variety of events as they travel.

Rare film from Tai Kato, one of the all-time greats.Read More »

One of the most beautiful versions of Yotsuya Kaidan. Tamiya, an egomaniacal samurai, determines to reunite with his wife Oiwa, who’s left him after a murder scandal. When her sister Osode is tricked into prostitution by a masseuse, Tamiya is joined by his friend Naosuke in turning the situation into a plot to win back Oiwa, which complicates as a new girl enters the picture. Tamiya’s scheming injustices backfire in the form of an onryo, a vengeance-seeking ghost, and yet the movie’s horror is entirely of human contrivance.Read More »

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A former soldier is caught working the black market and sent to prison while his partner escapes and goes on to become a gangster, but their paths cross again as they both fall in love with the same woman.Read More »

A yakuza film epic about a man and a woman establishing a family of longshoreman, centering on their love and struggle.Read More »

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Few novels were filmed as many times as Shiro Ozaki’s famous Theatre of Life . So rich and appealing is this roman fleuve about chivalrous yakuza that, over the decades, it was rendered in “youth”and animated versions, as a lavish epic or omnibus film (including one by Kinji Fukasaku), and indeed was initially made by Uchida in 1936 as a highly regarded “social tendency” film. But Uchida’s later version is considered the gold standard, partly because of his mastery at visual storytelling, partly because of his superb ensemble cast. The yakuza Hishakaku kills someone in a dispute over a barmaid, but turns himself in at the urging of Kiratsune, an old gangster who has just returned from eight years in Shanghai and has become his protector.When he gets out of prison, Hishakaku finds himself once again torn between his sense of duty to his gang and his sense of humanity, and is drawn back into the bloody clan feuds.Read More »