Part three of a trilogy. After the Japanese defeat to the Russians in the last episode, Kaji, the Japanese soldier and humanistic protagonist Read More »
Tag Archives: Masaki Kobayashi
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959) Masaki Kobayashi, Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Kokinji Katsura
Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army Read More »
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959) Masaki Kobayashi, Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima
In the World War II, the pacifist and humanist Japanese Kaji accepts to travel with his wife Michiko to the tiny Manchurian village Loh Hu Liong Read More »
Kono hiroi sora no dokoka ni / Somewhere Beneath The Wide Sky (1954) Masaki Kobayashi, Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Hideko Takamine, Drama
A family in the city of Tokyo running a liquor store overcome their impotence and dysfunction as they induce an understanding through each other of how to deal with their individual problems. Read More »
Izumi / Fountainhead (1956) Masaki Kobayashi, Ineko Arima, Keiji Sada, Yôko Katsuragi, Drama
A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply. Read More »
Magokoro / Sincere Heart (1953) Masaki Kobayashi, Keiko Awaji, Motoji Fujiwara, Chieko Higashiyama, Drama, Romance
A young student falls into a hopeless romantic attraction to an invalid girl whom he can only see from afar.
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Inochi bô ni furô / Inn of Evil (1971) Masaki Kobayashi, Tatsuya Nakadai, Komaki Kurihara, Wakako Sakai, Crime, Drama
The story takes place in feudal Japan, when any commerce with the rest of the world was strictly prohibited. An idealist suddenly appears in an isolated inn (the one that the title refers to), the head-quarters of a group of smugglers, with stolen money intended to ransom his loved one who is forced to work in a brothel.
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Kwaidan (1964) Masaki Kobayashi, Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Art-house, Fantasy, Horror
After more than a decade of sober political dramas and socially minded period pieces, the great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi shifted gears dramatically for this rapturously stylized quartet of ghost stories. Featuring colorfully surreal sets and luminous cinematography, these haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted.
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