JAPANESE FILMS

Musashino, the Landscape That Never Was (Part 3)

In THE LADY OF MUSASHINO, Mizoguchi features various images of water. When Tsutomu and Michiko take a long idle stroll in the area for the first time, clear water running in the canal introduces us to the world of Musashino. Later, a trip to the large reservoir (the Murayama Reservoir) definitely changes the fates of their lives. Transition from quiet water of the reservoir to violent, turbulent storm eloquently speaks the evolving emotions of the protagonists. These images remind us that the Musashino is abundant with natural water resources, as the mountainous area far north supplies the massive amount of …

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JAPANESE FILMS

The Dark Side of the Nation

This is part eight of “Films of 1949” series (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7). In the previous post “Mistresses and Lovers”, I mentioned “There were many bloody incidents involving assassinations and terrorism, all linked to underground operatives of U.S. secret agency.” Alex in Florida asked me what this “underground operatives of U.S. secret agency” means. I’m afraid I dropped this historical trivia too casually, so I try to explain this. Before going into details, I would like to provide a little background. It’s about a railway system. The railway system in Japan was extremely important back in 1949. The Japanese Government Railway (Tetsudosho, J.G.R.) …

 
'BOBTAIL' REVIEW / JAPANESE FILMS

Key of Life

An attempted suicide and a discreet assassination. A struggling actor and an underachiever of life in general, Sakurai can’t even succeed in hanging himself. He finds himself completely out of luck and money in the chaos of his room. Meanwhile, Kondo, a dark and smooth man of exquisite tastes, completes his mission again – an assassination of a successful businessman – in a perfect discretion. It is literally in a matter of seconds he finishes his job, without any trace. These two strangers meet, in all places, in a public bath. Ignited by one of the most poetic cinematic justice, …