Yôko Katsuragi

  • Akira Kurosawa – Shûbun AKA Scandal (1950)

    1941-1950Akira KurosawaCrimeDramaJapan

    A handsome, suave Toshiro Mifune lights up the screen as painter Ichiro, whose circumstantial meeting with a famous singer (Yoshiko Yamaguchi) is twisted by the tabloid press into a torrid affair. Ichiro files a lawsuit against the seedy gossip magazine, but his lawyer, Hiruta (Kurosawa stalwart Takashi Shimura), is playing both sides. A portrait of cultural moral decline, Scandal is also a compelling courtroom drama and a moving tale of human redemption.Read More »

  • Kô Nakahira – Mikkai AKA The Assignation (1959)

    1951-1960DramaJapanKô NakahiraThriller

    This well-paced, effective drama by director Ko Nakahira eloquently decries the foibles of adultery by looking at a worst possible scenario. Young Kikuko (Yoko Katsuragi) is married to an older university professor and because of the age difference as well as several other factors, she is bored with the marriage and falls for one of his students, Yuichiro (Seiji Miyaguchi). The two manage to sneak off for stolen moments together and on one of those occasions in the park, they both witness a murder. Shocked by what they saw, the student insists that they immediately go to the police to testify against the killer. But this is Japan, after all, and the adulterous wife knows that losing face by losing her marriage over her infidelity is much worse than the need to identify a killer. Unfortunately for him, the student never quite sees it her way.
    ~ Eleanor Mannikka, RoviRead More »

  • Keisuke Kinoshita – Nihon no higeki AKA A Japanese Tragedy (1953)

    Keisuke Kinoshita1951-1960ClassicsDramaJapan

    Nick Wrigley, Masters of Cinema wrote:
    At the close of the war in Japan, a widowed mother makes every possible sacrifice to bring up her ungrateful son and daughter who are unimpressed with their poor standard of living at home. They gradually reject her in search of the material comforts that working as a maid cannot provide. The mother’s despair becomes interminable.Read More »

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