Utamaro was an artist who lived in Edo (which was later to become modern-day Tokyo) in the late 18th century. Read More »
Tag Archives: Shin Kishida
Black Rose Ascension (1975) Tatsumi Kumashiro, Shin Kishida, Naomi Tani, Meika Seri
Shin Kishida stars as Juzo, a self-important pinku eiga director plainly modeled on Nagisa Oshima. Read More »
Uta / Poem (1972) Akio Jissôji, Shin Kishida, Hiroko Sakurai, Saburô Shinoda, Drama
The young houseboy in Uta wakes up every night to patrol the house of a teacher with a flashlight. Read More »
Mandara (1971) Akio Jissôji, Shin Kishida, Kôji Shimizu, Hiroko Sakurai, Drama
Two student couples stumble upon a cult dedicated to promoting the primordial human state through rape and agriculture. Read More »
Midare karakuri / Murder in the Doll House (1979) Susumu Kodama, Shin Kishida, Koichi Kitami, Yûsaku Matsuda, Drama, Sci-Fi, Horror
In the best traditions of Japanese mystery stories which place fiendishly elaborate plots at their centre, Murder at the Doll House more than succeeds as a classic detective story. We’re presented with a set of strange occurrences which our master sleuth will explain to us in a long lecture at the end and even if one or two twists are a little obvious, the satisfaction involved in having figured them out ahead of time outweighs any kind of disappointment. Toshio may say he wants to be like Philip Marlowe but in actuality his detective is a little more in the European mould – almost like a more active Poirot or a slightly less obtuse Sherlock Holmes. Still, donning a trench coat with a turned up collar yet eschewing the classic hat which would have obscured his giant ‘70s perm, Matsuda once again turns in a very “cool” performance as super smart private eye.
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