Category Tragedy

1900s, 1920s, 1930s, Buddhism, Cinema, College, Domestic drama, Drama, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Meiji, Politics, Poverty, Silent Film, Silent Movie, Social justice, Students, Taisho, Tragedy, Violence, Yakuza

Theater of Life: Youth Version [Fragment] (Jinsei gekijō – Seishun hen, 人生劇場・青春篇),1936

A young Japanese man in traditional clothing from the early 20th Century, sitting in a semi-darkened room, his head bowed in grief

Production Company Nikkatsu (Tamagawa) Scenarists Yagi Yasutarō (adaptation); Kameya Gentoku (screenplay) Source Ozaki Shirō (novel) Cinematographer Yokota Tatsuyuki Performers (Note: actors credited in the cast list but who don’t appear in the extant version are noted with an asterisk.) Kosugi…

RebelJack
July 30, 2023

17th Century, 1950s, 1960s, Ainu, Allegory, Bar, Cinema, Communists, Domestic drama, Drama, Feudalism, Film History, Foxes, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Koreans, Maoism, Mining, Politics, Poverty, Prostitution, Race, Samurai, Satire, Social justice, Tragedy, War

Uchida the Sellout?

An old Japanese man wearing a cap, sitting outdoors on a chair and holding a cigarette in his hand

Photo above: Uchida Tomu directing a film, probably Swords of Death (Shinken shōbu, 1971) Note: As I’ve already done several times for this blog, I am interrupting my series of reviews of the films of Uchida Tomu to post my…

RebelJack
July 1, 2023
2 Comments

1940s, 1950s, Buddhism, Capitalism, Cinema, Colonization, Drama, Film History, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Maoism, masterpiece, Police, Poverty, Prostitution, Serial killer, Social justice, Tokyo, Tragedy, Violence

A Fugitive from the Past (Kiga Kaikyō;飢餓海峡), 1965

A middle-aged Japanese man with a mustache is looking towards the camera with a distressed expression

Other titles: The Hunger Straits, Straits of Hunger (literal English titles); Starvation Straits (alternative English title) Le détroit de la faim (literal French title); Szökevény a múltból [A Fugitive from the Past] (alternate Hungarian title) Production Company Toei (Tokyo) Scenarist…

RebelJack
April 30, 2023
1 Comment

19th Century, Buddhism, Drama, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Madness, Samurai, Theater, Tragedy, Violence, War

The Sword in the Moonlight Trilogy (Daibosatsu tōge I-III, 大菩薩峠), 1957-1959

At night, a man in samurai garb with an angry-looking face in medium close-up stares at someone in front of him

Other titles: The Great Bodhisattva Pass: Part I (1957), The Great Bodhisattva Pass: Second Part (Dai ni bu, 第二部) (1958) The Great Bodhisattva Pass: Final Version (Kanketsu Hen, 完結篇) (1959) (literal English titles); Swords in the Moonlight, Souls in the…

RebelJack
October 9, 2022

18th Century, Capitalism, Cinema, Drama, Japan, Madness, masterpiece, Prostitution, Tokyo, Tragedy, Uncategorized, Yoshiwara

Hero of the Red-Light District (Yōtō monogatari: hana no Yoshiwara hyakunin-giri, 妖刀物語／花の吉原百人斬り), 1960

A facially disfigured Japanese man in feudal clothes looks at something with horror, while touching his face with his fingers

Killing in Yoshiwara; Yoshiwara: The Pleasure Quarter; Tale of Strange Swords (alternate English titles); Meurtre à Yoshiwara (alternate French title); Cursed Sword Story: Flower of Yoshiwara, Hundreds Killed (approximate literal English title) Production Company Toei (Kyoto) Scenarist Yoda Yoshikata Source…