血は渇いてる [Chi wa kawaiteru / Blood Is Dry] (Yoshishige Yoshida, 1960)
Sep
11
The September 11 copy of a scandal magazine. It costs 30 yen. DP: Tōichirō Narushima.
海底から来た女 [Kaitei kara kita onna / Woman from the Sea] (Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1959)
Sep
4
The mysterious sea woman (Hisako Tsukuba, who under the name Chako van Leeuwen went on to produce the Jawsploitation franchise Piranha) and a bewitched Toshio (Tamio Kawachi). Note how the boat's sail resembles a shark's dorsal fin. DP: Yoshihiro Yamazaki.
It's this month's Bales Challenges' dad's VaderJaws' birthday! Celebrating with Vader, or sharks, or churches, or Chvrches. Erm… let's stick to sharks.
A strange woman appears in the life of a young man. He falls in love with her, but the fishermen know. She's the wife of a shark killed years ago. And she's out for revenge.
Doing Hooptober parallel to Bales. Expect some contamination of the September/October posts.
颱風圏の女 [Taifuken no onna / The Woman in the Typhoon Area] (Hideo Ōba, 1948)
Aug
23
Pirate moll Kuriko Sato (Setsuko Hara) (via). DP: Hiroyuki Nagaoka.
Celebrating International Talk like a Pirate Day*: a [favourite] pirate film.
* International Talk like a Pirate Day takes place on September 19.
“Today is the first day of a life of sacrifice.”
地獄門 [Jigokumon / Gate of Hell] (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953)
Aug
4
orange
The shrine's torii as seen in the film. Vermilion contains mercury, which not only acts as a preservative but is also believed to ward off evil. DP: Kōhei Sugiyama.
Orange: a building or structure*
– Moritoo Endō
Partially filmed near the 厳島神社 (Itsukushima Shrine) with its striking vermilion torii.
Shot on Eastmancolor, relatively cheap and globally available, and influenced by Hollywood colour melodramas of the time, in particularly Rudolph Maté's Mississippi Gambler (1953) (source), and in its turn greatly influenced the implementation of colour in global cinema to come.
Jigokumon won two Academy Awards in 1955, for Best Costume Design and Best Foreign Language Film.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
黒蜥蜴 [Kurotokage / Kuro tokage / Black Lizard] (Kinji Fukasaku, 1968)
Aug
4
The Black Lizard (Akihiro Miwa) in embrace with Detective Akechi (Isao Kimura). DP: Hiroshi Dōwaki.
“There’s something almost poetic about finding a hairpin in the bath. It’s like the sole of my foot has been pierced by poetry.”
簪 [Kanzashi / Ornamental Hairpin] (Hiroshi Shimizu, 1941)
Jul
24
relaxation
Men relaxing at a roten-buro, an outdoor onsen. DP: Suketarō Inokai.
Someone goes to a spa, beach, or retreat*
– Nanmura, via
Relaxing at an onsen, a soldier steps on the titular kanzashi. Now injured with too much time on his hands, he and his fellow nosy patrons go out looking for its owner.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for July is, for unknown reasons, mostly not date-related and follows some sort of vacation narrative.
血は渇いてる [Chi wa kawaiteru / Blood Is Dry] (Yoshishige Yoshida, 1960)
Jul
17
beer
A man and woman share a meal in a top-floor restaurant. The view is numerous identical modern buildings. She's smoking and they both clutch large beer mugs. Two dishes hold small bits of food with toothpicks stuck into them. DP: Tōichirō Narushima.
妻は告白する [Tsuma wa kokuhaku suru / A Wife Confesses] (Yasuzō Masumura, 1961)
Jul
15
1961
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An expert called into the court case studies an enlarged photograph of the supposed crime scene. DP: Setsuo Kobayashi.
“On the bus, the air was so thick, he felt woozy. A wailing infant shook with tears and the woman beside him reeked with the stink of cheap perfume.”
野良犬 [Nora inu / Stray Dog] (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
Jul
14
A sweaty man in uniform drinks from a water fountain like a dog (via). DP: Asakazu Nakai.
Someone enjoys a drink or beverage*
– narrator
On a sweltering summer day, Detective's Murakami's Colt gets stolen on a crowded bus. He must delve deep into the sticky sweaty seedy underbelly of Tokyo to retrieve it.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for July is, for unknown reasons, mostly not date-related and follows some sort of vacation narrative.
藪の中の黒猫 [Yabu no naka no kuroneko / A Black Cat in a Bamboo Grove] (Kaneto Shindō, 1968)
Jun
19
Garfield the Cat Day
A young woman in white, strangely resembling a cat, seemingly lapping a drink from a bowl. DP: Kiyomi Kuroda.
A scene with a cat for Garfield the Cat Day (USA)
A mother and daughter who are raped and murdered by a rogue samurai, return as cat-shaped onryō, vengeful spirits.