Tag Archives: Ken’ichi Hagiwara

Yakusoku / The Rendezvous (1972) Kôichi Saitô, Keiko Kishi, Ken’ichi Hagiwara, Yoshie Minami, Drama

Yakusoku AKA The Rendezvous (1972)
During a long train ride heading north of Japan, a young man addresses an older woman in front of him. At first she doesn’t respond, but he finally gets her into a conversation when he offers her lunch. Thus begins Saito Koichi’s famous romantic thriller, Le Rendezvous. The woman turns out to be a murderer on parole, whist the man a runaway accused of assault and robbery. As it happens, the two soon fall in love. The woman asks the man to wait two years until she is released from jail. And he agress.
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Matatabi / The Wanderers (1973) Kon Ichikawa, Isao Bitô, Tadao Futami, Ken’ichi Hagiwara, Drama

matatabi-aka-the-wanderers-1973
Follows the fluctuating fortunes of three friends in feudal Japan who are ronin: masterless warriors, who wander from castle to castle, selling their services to whichever lord will fill their rice bowls. These are not the YOJIMBO Super Samurai but rather the rank and file, the spear-carriers. The irony is that even though they use the servants’ entrance, they still feel themselves bound by the samurai code of Bushido; and this tension leads to tragedy.
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