settima

japan

仁義なき戦い [Jingi naki tatakai / Battles Without Honor and Humanity] (Kinji Fukasaku, 1973)

Oct

16

仁義なき戦い (1973)

Tetsuya Sakai (Hiroki Matsukata, L) and several of the other yakuza. DP: Sadaji Yoshida.

0課の女 赤い手錠 [Zeroka no onna: Akai wappa / Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs] (Yukio Noda, 1974)

Oct

15

1937

課0課の女 赤い手錠 (1974)

Rei (Miki Sugimoto) wielding the long red chain of her handcuffs. DP: Yoshio Nakajima.

狂った一頁 [Kurutta ichipėji / A Page of Madness] (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926)

Oct

14

silent cinema

Kurutta ichipėji (1926)

A masked inmate (Eiko Minami) dances. The shot of the dancer is superimposed over a shot of her cel's bars, putting the viewer in the position of the husband witnessing – or is he hallucinating – an inescapable nightmare (via). DP: Kōhei Sugiyama.

A [favourite] silent horror film*

 

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.

駅​ [Eki / Station] (Yasuo Furuhata, 1981)

Oct

12

駅 (1981)

Eiji Mikami (Ken Takakura) and Kiriko (Chieko Baishō) watching TV in her quiet bar. She sings along with her favourite song. DP: Daisaku Kimura.

Set 278 days before the start of the Tokyo Olympics.

“One can meet only god at such hour.”

ノーライフキング [No raifu kingu / No Life King] (Jun Ichikawa, 1989)

Sep

23

Nintendo – 1889

No raifu kingu (1989)

Makoto and his friends play with their video game console (via). DP: Osame Maruike.

Home video games: Nintendo was founded on this day in 1889.

 

It's the late 80s and Japan is in the midst of an economic and technological bubble. Like so many kids, Makoto (litt. “truth”) and his friends are obsessed with their game console. In anticipation of the release of the fourth instalment of their favourite game, rumours start doing the rounds. Some cartridges are cursed with the “No Life King”, meaning players who cannot complete the game, will die. The curse appears to spill over into the boys' real world. What if when you die in the game, you really really die…?

血は渇いてる [Chi wa kawaiteru / Blood Is Dry] (Yoshishige Yoshida, 1960)

Sep

11

Chi wa kawaiteru (1960)

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

Kaitei kara kita onna (1959)

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

Taifuken no onna (1948)

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.

地獄門 [Jigokumon / Gate of Hell] (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953)

Aug

4

orange

Jigokumon (1953)

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*

“Today is the first day of a life of sacrifice.”

– 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.

 

黒蜥蜴 [Kurotokage / Kuro tokage / Black Lizard] (Kinji Fukasaku, 1968)

Aug

4

黒蜥蜴 (1968)

The Black Lizard (Akihiro Miwa) in embrace with Detective Akechi (Isao Kimura). DP: Hiroshi Dōwaki.