Tag Japan

17th Century, Buddhism, Cinema, Feudalism, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Samurai, Uncategorized, Violence, War

The Miyamoto Musashi Series (Miyamoto Musashi, Parts I-V, 宮本武蔵), 1961-1965

A bearded Japanese man with long hair looks intensely into the camera

Part I: Miyamoto Musashi; Alternate title: Zen and Sword (also used as series title); 宮本武蔵. Part II: Miyamoto Musashi II: Duel at Hannya Hill; Alternate Title: Miyamoto Musashi: Showdown at Hannyazaka Heights; Original Title: Miyamoto Musashi: Hannyazaka no kettō: 宮本武蔵…

RebelJack
January 9, 2025
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17th Century, Bunraku, Children, Cinema, Drama, Feudalism, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Kabuki, Poverty, Prostitution, Road Movie, Samurai, Theater, Tragedy, Uncategorized

The Horse Boy (Abarenbō kaidō; 暴れん坊街道), 1957)

Picture of a surprised-looking Japanese man, shown against a dark (night) background, wearing clothing from Japan's feudal era

Alternate Titles: Horse Boy; Hooligans’ Highway (literal English title); La Route des malandrins (literal French title) Production Company Toei (Kyoto) Scenarist Yoda Yoshikata Original Draft (uncredited) Hirata Kenzo (see Notes on the Production below) Sources The Night Song of Yosaku…

RebelJack
September 15, 2024

1920s, Cinema, Community, Drama, Farmers, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Ship, Tragedy, Uncategorized

The 1925 Kanto Shipwreck Film Fragment, possibly titled Righteous Blood (Giketsu, 義血)

A night scene of a coastline, with a ship, slightly listing, in the background, and a rocky hill in the foreground, on which several people can be seen, silhouetted by a bonfire behind them.

Other possible titles: Honorable Blood, Kanto and the Sailor Ogawa, The Shipwreck of Kanto and the Sailor Ogawa, Special Service Ship Kanto and the Sailor Ogawa Production Company Kokkatsu Scenarist Unknown Cinematographer Tsuburaya Eiji Chief Assistant Director Igayama Masamitsu Performers…

RebelJack
July 13, 2024

1920s, Cinema, Drama, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Police, Prostitution, Taisho, Uncategorized, Violence, Yakuza

Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza (Jinsei gekijō: Hishakaku to Kiratsune, 人生劇場・飛車角と吉良常),1968

Head and shoulders shot of a young Japanese woman in traditional dress leaning against a wall, looking distraught

Other titles: A Tale of Two Yakuza (alternate English title); Theater of Life: Hishakaku and Kiratsune (literal English title) Production Company Toei (Tokyo) Scenarist Tanada Gorō Source Ozaki Shirō (novel) Producer Okawa Hiroshi Planning Shundo Hiroji, Okubo Tadayuki, Yoshida Tatsu…

RebelJack
January 19, 2024

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
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1950s, Ainu, Cinema, Community, Drama, Folklore, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Politics, Race, Social justice, Uncategorized

The Outsiders (Mori to mizuumi no matsuri; 森と湖のまつり), 1958

A young Japanese man in modern clothes carrying a rifle crouches behind some shrubbery and looks into the distance, with a lake in the far distance behind him

Other titles: Festival of Lakes and Forests (literal English title) Production Company Tōei (Tokyo) Scenarist Uekusa Keinosuke Source Festival of Lakes and Forests (Mori to mizuumi no matsuri) [novel] by Takeda Taijun Producer Ōkawa Hiroshi Cinematographer Nishikawa Shōei Art Director…

RebelJack
December 30, 2022

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

17th Century, Allegory, Children, Cinema, Drama, Feudalism, Japan, Samurai, Uncategorized, Violence, War

Swords of Death (Shinken shōbu; 真剣勝負), 1971

Photo of a young Japanese woman in period dress, looking at the camera and shouting

Other titles: Miyamoto Musashi VI, Death Match; Swords of Doom; Battle of Life or Death; Serious Game (alternative English titles); Duel with Real Swords, Real Sword Fight (literal English titles); Duel à mort [Duel to the Death] (alternate French title);…

RebelJack
February 20, 2022

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