EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (1960)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 20, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Japanese Cinema, Seijun Suzuki, Criterion, TCM

Images from Seijun Suzuki’s Everything Goes Wrong (1960)

Last week I shared some of my thoughts about Seijun Suzuki’s excellent neo-noir melodrama Everything Goes Wrong (1960) over at the Movie Morlocks. It’s one of Suzuki’s early films that isn’t available on DVD in the US yet but you can currently watch it at Hulu.com if you’re a member. Criterion has made an exclusive deal with Hulu, which allows them to stream many Criterion releases and other hard-to-see films that haven’t been released yet. I’m giving their 7-day trial membership a run and so far I’ve enjoyed using Hulu but between my cable TV bill , Amazon & Netflix accounts I don’t know if I can manage the extra expense at the moment. You can read more about Suzuki’s film and my experience with Hulu by following the link below.

- Seijun Suzuki’s EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (1960) @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

I’ve also created a Flickr Gallery of images from the film that you can find here.

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Masahiro Shinoda’s Pale Flower (1964)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | June 10, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Japanese Cinema, Movie Morlocks, TCM, Masahiro Shinoda

I find it incredibly hard to write about my favorite films, directors and actors. When I really love a film as much as I love Masahiro Shinoda’s Pale Flower (1964), I tend to gush or the words just stumble around in my head and refuse to form into coherent sentences. I’ve been eager to write about Pale Flower for years but nothing came of my enthusiasm until this week when I managed to compile some of my thoughts about Pale Flower for the Movie Morlocks. Criterion recently released Pale Flower on DVD (Full disclosure - I haven’t seen the new Criterion disc but I own the original DVD from Image Entertainment) so it prompted me to watch the film again and it is an incredible piece of filmmaking that never fails to impress me. I first mentioned Shinoda’s film here back in 2007 when I was asked to compile a list of some of my favorite foreign language films. I only wrote a small blurb about Pale Flower then so I’m glad that I was finally able to share some more detailed thoughts about the film. Here’s a brief excerpt:

“Masahiro Shinoda’s PALE FLOWER (1964) opens with this telling monologue recited by the handsome Japanese actor Ryo Ikebe. In the film Ikebe plays an aging Yakuza mobster called Muraki who has just been released from prison after serving a three-year sentence for killing another gang member. Instead of being overjoyed by his newfound freedom, Muraki expresses his despair as well as the disappointment that many of his fellow countrymen were feeling at the same time. Post-war Japan was in constant upheaval and the country was undergoing major changes under American occupation. There was a lot of confusion, anger and resentment towards the powers that be at home and abroad. People’s uneasiness and aggravation often found an outlet in many of the Japanese films made during the 1960s. Although the Japanese New Wave isn’t as familiar to western audiences as its French counterpart, PALE FLOWER is one of the finest examples of this extraordinary period in Japan’s cinematic history.”

You can read the rest of my piece on Pale Flower by following the link below.

- Plucking the Petals of Masahiro Shinoda’s Pale Flower @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

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Remember My Name (1976) & TCM News

by Kimberly Lindbergs | June 2, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, News, Horror, Japanese Cinema, American Cinema, Science Fiction, Anthony Perkins, Thrillers, Movie Morlocks, TCM

Anthony Perkins & Geraldine Chaplin in Remember My Name (1976)

I’ve been really busy lately so please excuse the lack of updates around here. Lately it seems like I only have enough free time to share my Movie Morlock updates and today is no exception. I recently got the opportunity to watch Alan Rudolph’s unusual thriller Remember My Name (1976). I was originally interested in seeing the film because one of its stars was the one and only Anthony Perkins but I was surprised by how terrific the movie was. Follow the link to read my thoughts about this intriguing neo-noir:
- Remember My Name …or else. @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

I also wanted to let my readers know that during the month of June TCM is hosting a bunch of Drive-In Double Features every Thursday night! If I had my way TCM would make these Drive-In Double Features a regular part of their programming schedule but at least me and my fellow monster lovers will be able to enjoy some great movies this month. TCM put together a terrific promo video for this event that I just couldn’t resist sharing. June is going to be a fun month!

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Yeti Holiday Fun

by Kimberly Lindbergs | December 10, 2010

Categories | Horror, Japanese Cinema, Italian Cinema, Hammer Horror, Movie Morlocks, TCM, SHAG

Xmas card illustrated by SHAG that I sent to friends & family in 2002

One of my favorite monsters is the elusive and mysterious Yeti or Abominable Snowman and during the winter months I always start thinking about my favorite Yeti movies. I decided to compile a brief list of viewing suggestions for Movie Morlock readers this week in case anyone else is interested in exploring the fascinating and bizarre cannon of Yeti films that are currently available on DVD and video. Christmas movies often bore me to tears unless they’re made by Rankin/Bass or directed by Bob Clark so I tend to gravitate towards other entertainment in December. Do you really want to sit through White Christmas or Miracle on 34th Street again? Adding a few Yeti movies to your winter viewing calendar is a great way to mix things up a bit and postpone the winter doldrums. Invite a Yeti to your Christmas party and he’s sure to liven things up a bit!
- ‘Tis the Season… of the Yeti! @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

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Jewel Thieves & Giant Monsters

by Kimberly Lindbergs | June 3, 2010

Categories | Movie Reviews, Japanese Cinema, Crime, Science Fiction, Ishiro Honda

After recently reading and writing about Peter H. Brothers’ book Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda, I was motivated to watch one of Honda’s lesser-known films that I hadn’t had the opportunity to see yet, Dogora (1964). I’m not sure how I managed to overlook this little gem involving a giant jellyfish from space with an appetite for diamonds but I’m glad that I finally caught up with it on DVD. It’s undoubtedly one of the oddest monster movies produced by Toho Studios in the ’60s and it has quickly become one of my favorite Ishiro Honda films.

Want to read more? You’ll find the rest of my post over at the Movie Morlocks.

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The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 13, 2010

Categories | Books, Japanese Cinema, Science Fiction, Tokusatsu, Ishiro Honda

I recently read Peter H. Brothers’ informative new book Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda and really enjoyed it. It’s the first English language book written about the Japanese director Ishiro Honda and it’s a must-read for fans of Japanese science fiction and fantasy films. I love giant monster movies so I decided to review the book for the Movie Morlocks this week.

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Happy Birthday Akira Kurosawa!

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 23, 2010

Categories | Movie Reviews, Directors, Japanese Cinema, Crime, War, Ishiro Honda, Akira Kurosawa

Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune in Stray Dog (1949)

Stray Dog (1949) was the ninth film made by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and I think it’s one of his very best. Like many of my favorite Kurosawa films, Stray Dog features no rogue samurai or mad emperors and it’s set in modern Japan instead of feudal Japan, but it does contain many of the major themes that Kurosawa enjoyed exploring in his work throughout his long career. Stray Dog began life as a novel that the director wrote after being inspired by the crime fiction of French author Georges Simenon, but when Kurosawa adapted his novel for the screen his work took on a life of its own. Stray Dog was transformed into one of the best noir thrillers made in the late ’40s and it’s one of the director’s most compelling films.

The film stars a very young and incredibly handsome Toshiro Mifune in one of his earliest roles as Murakami, an ex-solider turned rookie detective in postwar Japan. The aftermath of the war and the American occupation has taken its toll on the Japanese people who were literally baptized by fire and have been reborn in a cruel and often brutal representation of the modern westernized world. With little food and even less hope, many people have naturally turned to crime in an effort to survive. Others like Detective Murakami are attempting to forge a new life for themselves out of the destruction, but it isn’t easy. After starting his new job Murakami has his gun stolen by a thief (Isao Kimura) who uses it to commit terrible crimes. Guns are a rare commodity in postwar Japan and Murakami’s shame at loosing his weapon forces him to hunt down the criminal so he can retrieve his weapon with help from an older and wiser detective named Sato (Takashi Shimura). This hunt will take them through the war torn city streets of Tokyo’s criminal underworld made up of shanty towns, black markets and seedy night clubs.

Stray Dog takes place during an unprecedented heat-wave and you can literally feel the steam rising from the city streets. Akira Kurosawa enjoyed using the effects of the changing weather such as falling rain, snow storms or the blossoming spring in his films to represent the changing moods of his characters and to signal important events. In Stray Dog the hellish summer heat almost becomes a character of its own.

One of the movies most remarkable qualities is the way in which the film makes use of Tokyo’s battered and burned exteriors to create an unsettling mood of destruction and desperation that haunts every frame. It presents a part of Japan that was rarely if ever seen in previous films of the period. Some of the credit for the look and feel of Stray Dog must go to Ishiro Honda who worked as a second-unit director on the movie. Honda is mostly known to western audiences as the director of Godzilla (1956) but before becoming a filmmaker Ishiro Honda served with the Japanese military during WW2 and the experience left him deeply troubled. His firsthand knowledge of the firebombing of Tokyo and a visit to Hiroshima after the war left psychological scars on Ishiro Honda that he never fully recovered from. Honda often seemed compelled to revisit the trauma he had suffered in the films he created later on. During the making of Stray Dog Akira Kurosawa asked Ishiro Honda to explore the ruins of post-war Tokyo and film whatever he saw there. Honda made exceptional use of his personal observations and experience while he was shooting and almost everything that he caught on camera was used in the final cut of Stray Dog.

There’s just no getting around the fact that the aftermath of WW2 and its effect on the people who survived it is what really fuels Kurosawa’s film. Tohsiro Mifune’s detective is an ex-soldier but the criminal he is chasing is also an ex-soldier. Both men survived similar circumstances but afterward they followed very different paths. The detective and the criminal are both “stray dogs” trying to find their way in a new and unfamiliar world that has risen from the ashes of war. As a filmmaker Kurosawa’s sympathies seem to be with no one and everyone. You’ll find very few cookie-cutter bad guys or good guys in the movie. I think that’s a reflection of what postwar Japan was experiencing at a very trying time. The examination of their previous alliances and adversaries is mirrored in Kurosawa’s film. The complexity of the characters that populate Stray Dog is something that you don’t often see in crime movies made during the ’40s and that’s just one of the reasons why it’s so rewarding. Stray Dog is one of the most nuanced film noirs I’ve seen but it’s also one of Kurosawa’s most style-conscious efforts.

The film is full of perfectly composed interior shots as well as lingering close-ups that seem to focus on the most mundane things in unexpected ways. Police procedures are meticulously depicted in the film, but unpredictable moments such as a wonderful dance number and a baseball game, keep the movie exciting. There’s an intimacy between Kurosawa and his actors that is reflected in the way the director’s camera lingers on their warm limbs and sweaty brows. It could be argued that women are often reduced to background characters in Kurosawa’s work but Stray Dog features a remarkable performance from Keiko Awaji as a beautiful but troubled showgirl named Harumi. Like many of the best femme fatales, Harumi isn’t given as much screen time as her male costars but she’s unforgettable as the criminal’s feisty girlfriend.

Stray Dog isn’t my favorite Akira Kurosawa film (that would be High and Low) but if you’re looking for the perfect film to watch while celebrating Akira Kurosawa’s 100th birthday today, I highly recommend giving Stray Dog a look. It’s a thrilling viewing experience and arguably the director’s first true masterpiece which makes it the perfect introduction to his body of work. It also features Kurosawa’s longtime collaborator, the great Toshiro Mifune, in one of his best roles. Mifune is so beautiful in Stray Dog that he’ll take your breath away. Few male actors have looked as good as he does in a white linen suit. You’ve been warned!

Stray Dog airs on TCM today (March 23rd) and it’s currently available on DVD from Criterion.

“A stray dog sees only what it chases.”

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Akira Kobayashi Turns 72

by Kimberly Lindbergs | November 4, 2009

Categories | Actors, Japanese Cinema, Joe Shishido, Seijun Suzuki, Kinji Fukasaku, Yasuharu Hasebe, Toshio Masuda, Teruo Ishii, Nikkatsu, Akira Kobayashi

Akira Kobayashi

One of my favorite Japanese actors turned 72 yesterday so I thought I’d make some time to wish Akira Kobayashi a very happy belated birthday. Earlier this year I had planned on paying tribute to Kobayashi during the Japanese Cinema Blogathon but at the last minute I decided to write about director Yasuharu Hasebe instead due to his unfortunate death. After mentioning this I received a few comments and emails from readers who expressed their admiration for Akira Kobayashi and asked if I would write something about him in the future so I thought I’d use his recent birthday to do just that.

Akira Kobayashi is an extremely handsome and multi-talented star who is well-known throughout Japan for his acting chops as well as his singing abilities. Kobayashi was born on November 3rd in Tokyo in 1937 and began acting early in life. At age four he was part of a children’s theatre company and while he was in high-school he became an accomplished Judo champion. His father worked in film as a lighting director so it’s not too surprising that Kobayashi was encouraged to pursue an acting career. Kobayashi joined Nikkatsu Studios in 1956 at age 19 and quickly rose to stardom with a group of young Japaneses hopefuls that included Joe Shishido, Tetsuya Watari and Yujiro Ishihara.

By 1958 Akira Kobayashi was becoming a popular star due to his good looks and obvious acting talents and in 1959 he was teamed up with Joe Shishido for a series of films called the Wandering Guitarist or Rambling Guitarist (aka Wataridori) series. In these popular films Akira Kobayashi and Joe Shishido played wandering heroes that save small villages from gangsters and other criminals. Kobayashi’s character resembled a singing cowboy in the old Hollywood tradition and he’d often whip out his guitar to belt out a tune during the Wandering Guitarist films. The series was so popular that it spawned similar films starring Akira Kobayashi such as The Rambler (aka Nagaremono) series.

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Modern Mondays: Bright Future (2003)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | June 29, 2009

Categories | Japanese Cinema, Modern Mondays, Tadanobu Asano

My regular readers may have noticed that my blog was impossible to access for 3 or 4 days. This was due to a major problem with the blog servers. They’re still ironing out the bugs so don’t be surprised if Cinebeats disappears again. Hopefully the problems will be worked out soon.

In the meantime, Modern Mondays has sort of snuck up on me. Since I’ve been unofficially counting down my favorite films of the last decade I thought I’d continue to do so with some shots from Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Bright Future (aka Akarui mirai; 2003). Kiyoshi Kurosawa is one of my favorite Japanese directors at the moment and his chilling 1997 film Cure made my list of “31 films that give me the willies.” Bright Future is another one of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s best films and it features a stunning low-key performance by Tadanobu Asano.

I didn’t have time to write anything substantial about the film, but here’s a bit of text borrowed from the Bright Future DVD box: “Friends Mamoru and Yuji are aimless young men stuck in dead-end jobs in a dreary factory in Tokyo. Mamoru, the more antisocial of the two, is obsessed with his pet project of acclimating a poisonous jellyfish to fresh water by gradually changing the water in its tank. One night, he inexplicably murders his boss’ family and is sentenced to death. Yuji, left to continue the jellyfish experiment, befriends Mamoru’s estranged father, and the two form a bond. But Yuji’s attachment to the jellyfish is even stronger, and problems arise when he accidentally releases the poisonous creature into the canals of Tokyo ”

Of course the film is so much more than that simple plot outline, which is why Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s films have garnered a lot of praise in recent years. Much has been written about Bright Future already and if you’d like to read more about the film I highly recommend visiting Michael Guillen’s blog The Evening Class. During last year’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa Blogathon Michael put together a great collection of links to some of the best writing about Bright Future that’s available online.

More images from a film filled with stunning imagery. . .

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