JAPANESE FILMS

The Empire of Fantasies

In 1923, the massive earthquake hit the Kanto area. Unprecedented in modern history of Japan, with more than 100,000 causalities, the large part of metropolitan area was burnt to ground. One of the horrifying events in this catastrophe was ethnic cleansing of Koreans by Japanese survivors. Vicious rumors were spread through the frightened people in the devastated area; Koreans were poisoning drinking water, torching houses and preparing for communist revolution. Vigilantes searched for suspected “Koreans” (whoever they considered Koreans) and lynched them to death. In reality, the vicious rumors were spread by Tokyo Police Department. It may sound incredible, but …

 
JAPANESE FILMS

Nobuko Rides on a Cloud

  Nobuko Rides on a Cloud (ノンちゃん雲に乗る) 1955, Shin-Toho Prod. Hisatora Kumagai, Hiroji Nakata Dir. Fumindo Kurata Writer Fumindo Kurata, Setsuko Murayama Haruko Wanibuchi, Setsuko Hara, Susumu Fujita Synopsis A little girl, Non-chan, is walking down the road crying hard. Her dog, Es, is following her. She finds a large tall tree with a nice branch extending out to the river. Non-chan climbs onto the branch, finds herself reflected on the water. She stops crying, and pretending to be a bird, she flaps her arms. Then … When she comes to herself, she was in the clouds. She was saved …

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JAPANESE FILMS

Postwar Kurosawa: Seven Samurai

  Seven Samurai (七人の侍) 1954, Toho Prod. Soujiro Motoki Dir. Akira Kurosawa  Writer Shinobu Hashimoto, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Ogunii, Cinematography  Asakazu Nakai, Music Fumio Hayasaka Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune Many consider “Seven Samurai” a landmark in filmmaking. The film coined the term “samurai” in many languages. Gradual plot element buildup, main characters as a team, realistic battle scenes, slow-motion as a punctuation in violence, multiple telephoto lens cameras to capture action simultaneously, montage to introduce main characters, etc. such many innovative elements are condensed in one, big narrative. Many call this masterpiece, others simply hate it. Some says you don’t …