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.

READ MORE

Comments (0)

Spend Springtime in Japan

by Kimberly Lindbergs | April 9, 2009

Categories | News, Japanese Cinema, Joe Shishido, Seijun Suzuki, Nikkatsu, Akira Kobayashi

Left: Joe Shishido & Reiko Sasamori in Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!
Right: Hiroyuki Nagato & Jitsuko Yoshimura in Pigs and Battleships

We’re only four months into 2009 and the year is already becoming more interesting in terms of DVD releases than 2008. I’ve been impressed with Warner’s decision to open up their film archives and I’m glad that Facets is now offering a mail order rental option for their vast selection of rare films on DVD and video. And if you’re interested in Japanese cinema some of the most exciting news is coming from Synapse, KINO and Criterion. All three companies are planning to release some of the most highly anticipated and previously hard-to-see Japanese films on DVD next month and I couldn’t be more happy about it! READ MORE

Comments (9)

Nikkatsu Action

by Kimberly Lindbergs | April 14, 2008

Categories | Books, Directors, Japanese Cinema, Joe Shishido, Seijun Suzuki, Yasuharu Hasebe, Toshio Masuda, Nikkatsu

Tetsuya Watari and Joe Shishido

Last week the Nikkatsu Action Film Series made its way to San Francisco and the nice guys over at the Outcast Cinema site who manage the event were kind enough to remind me with a friendly email. Unfortunately due to my current work schedule, ongoing apartment maintenance and various family obligations, which are leaving me with very little free time lately, I wasn’t able to see any of the films scheduled to play. I rarely make it into the city for film events anymore due to the high cost of gas, bridge fares, parking fees and ticket prices. A night out at the movies with my guy in the Bay Area can easily cost us $50, but I had really hoped to see two of the Toshio Masuda films that were scheduled to show at the Nikkatsu Action series (Gangster V.I.P. and Red Handkerchief) since they were two films I’d never seen before and I’ve become fascinated with the director’s work over the last couple of years.

Last year I picked up a copy of a wonderful Japanese book called Toshio Masuda - Films - Complete Guide which contains over 500 pages covering the director’s long career and accomplishments. It’s an amazing looking book obviously packed with many details about the director’s 80+ films and it also includes lots of lovely still shots from various productions. Naturally it’s written in Japanese and since I can barely read a word of Japanese myself and often have to rely on family and friends for minimal translations, I haven’t been able to fully appreciate the book. I highly doubt that there will ever be an English translation of the entire text made available, but the book has still managed to widen my understanding of Toshio Masuda ’s amazing directorial career and I’ve been making an attempt to try and see as many of his films as possible lately, which is why I was so disappointed that I missed the Toshio Masuda films shown during the Nikkatsu Action series.

Here’s a brief blurb about Toshio Masuda from the only English text featured on the cover of Toshio Masuda - Films - Complete Guide. It’s written in broken English so don’t be surprised if you find it a little hard to follow:

“Action, Romance, Comedy, Animation, The War. A Giant in the field of Japanese program pictures. Toshio Masuda was born in Kobe City, October 5th 1927. There was a year his 16 films have reached the TOP 10 in the yearly charts. It is the second highest record in the history of Japanese movies. He also has been in the chart from the 1950’s through until 1990’s, for about 5 decades. This is a miracle and a marvelous thing. His films themes are not only about action but comedy, romance, animation and the war. And every theme relates to the bloom of youth.”

It’s really astonishing and extremely sad that the work of such an important Japanese director like Toshio Masuda is almost completely unavailable to western audiences and has often been totally overlooked by western critics and film scholars. Thankfully due to the hard work of some people such as the fine folks at Outcast Cinema that is slowly changing and I’m extremely grateful for all their efforts.

Since I’m on the topic of Nikkatsu Action cinema, I also wanted to mention that I recently finished reading Mark Schilling’s latest book No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema, which is a quick read and well worth picking up if you’re interested in Japanese cinema. I’ve enjoyed many of Mark Schilling’s books over the years such as The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture and The Yakuza Movie Book so I was looking forward to reading his latest effort and I think it’s probably his best book yet because it limits its focus to one topic and provides readers with some interesting tidbits about the genre. No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema is somewhat light on content but it easily makes up for that with lots of fascinating interviews with important directors and stars, as well as beautiful still shots and incredible poster art reproductions. I don’t always agree with Schilling’s interpretations of Nikkatsu Action cinema that he puts forward in the book or his opinions regarding particular films and directors. And occasionally while reading the interviews he conducted with directors I desperately wished I could have jumped in with my own questions, but I’m very grateful that Schilling is making a much needed effort to research the work and careers of talented filmmakers like Toshio Masuda who is featured in his book along with Seijun Suzuki, Yasuharu Hasebe and Koreyoshi Kurahara. Since so little English language information is available about Nikkatsu’s Action cinema Mark Schilling’s book is a very welcome addition to the slowly growing body of Japanese film criticism and history that’s trying to forge ahead and follow uncharted paths that were often neglected by other well-known Japanese film critics and scholars in the past.

Here’s a few brief paragraphs from Mark Schilling’s Forward to No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema:

“The label said it all: Nikkatsu Akushon. Nikkatsu was a studio that had been around since the silent days and Akushon was “Action,” written in the katakana syllabary for foreign words. During their peak, from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, Nikkatsu Action films evoked a cinematic world neither foreign nor Japanese, but a mix of the two, where Japanese tough guys had the swagger, moves and long legs of Hollywood movie heroes. Where Tokyo streets, Yokohama docks and Hokkaido plains took on an exciting, exotic aura, as though they were stand-ins for Manhattan, Marseilles or the American West.

. . .

“Foreign critics long ignored Nikkatsu Action. Donald Richie and Joseph Anderson’s seminal 1959 history The Japanese Film: Art and Industry passed over the entire genre in silence, as did its 1982 revised edition. Joan Mellen’s 1976 study The Waves at Genji’s Door: Japan Through Its Cinema does not mention Nikkatsu or its films and stars even once. The rise of Seijun Suzuki to cult fame in the West in the 1980s brought the genre more attention abroad, but often in a negative way, with critics hailing Suzuki as an overlooked and discarded master, while dismissing the films of his colleagues as studio hack work (despite having seen few of them.)”

Mark Schilling’s book No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema retails for $15.95 and it’s currently available at Amazon for only $10.85. The Japanese book Toshio Masuda - Films - Complete Guide was published last year by Hotwax in association with Shinko Music Entertainment Co. LTD and it should be available at better Japanese book stores such as Kinokuniya. You can also purchase the book online at places such as YesAsia.com, but it costs a lot more there. The original retail price is about $37 and YesAsia is selling it for $50 plus shipping and handling costs so potential buyers should be aware of the considerable price hikes by some retailers.

The Nikkatsu Action film series is still going strong and many films will be shown across the country in various U.S. locations throughout April and May. For more information about the event please visit the Outcast Cinema Blog for locations and showtimes.

Comments (6)

Top 20 Soundtrack Releases of 2007

by Kimberly Lindbergs | January 19, 2008

Categories | Soundtracks, Composers, Seijun Suzuki, Steve McQueen, Ennio Morricone, Maurice Jarre

I’m still working on compiling my list of my Favorite DVDs from 2007, which I plan on sharing here before the end of the month, but in the meantime I thought I’d put together a list of my Top 20 Favorite Soundtrack CDs of 2007. Not surprisingly, Italy’s Cinedelic Records, Japan’s Hotwax Trax, Sweden’s Fin de Siècle Media and Universal Music France all have multiple releases on my list. All of these labels have put out some fantastic music collections in recent years and I expect more great things from them in 2008. Now on with my Top 20 Favorite Soundtrack CDs of 2007 . . .

1. Naozumi Yamamoto - Branded to Kill (Koroshi no Rakuin)
The great Japanese composer Naozumi Yamamoto created many terrific jazz inspired scores for Seijun Suzuki’s films in the sixties and his work on Branded to Kill (1967) is some of his best. Various pieces of music from the Branded to Kill soundtrack have previously been available on a few compilations, but this great new CD from Think Records in Japan is the first time Yamamoto’s complete score for the film has been made available.
*You can listen to sound samples and purchase the CD from Movie Grooves

2. Hajime Kaburagi - Hotwax Trax Composer Series Hajime Kaburagi
Due to language barriers this fantastic collection of soundtrack compositions by one of Japan’s greatest composers is often being referred to only as the Nora-neko rokku: Sekkusu hanta (Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter) / Furyô shôjô Mako (Bad Girl Mako) Original Soundtrack and scores for both of those 1970/1971 films are featured on the CD, but this terrific collection of Hajime Kaburagi scores also contains compositions from many other great Japanese films that he scored including Bloody Territories (1969), Blackmail is My Life (1968), Velvet Hustler (1967) and Swirling Butterflies (1970). Hajime Kaburagi’s impressive soundtracks are influenced by a wide array of music including jazz, lounge and rock and I can’t recommend this wonderful collection enough.
* You can listen to sound samples and purchase the CD from Movie Grooves

3. Michel Magne - Soundtracks from the Films of Roger Vadim
I’ve loved the soundtrack from Barbarella (1968) since I first watched the film some 25 years ago, so I was thrilled to discover that the great French composer Michel Magne had written some music for Roger Vadim’s film that had never been published before and was finally released on CD from Universal Music France just last year. This terrific collection also contains music from some of Vadim’s other great films including La Ronde (1964) and Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (1973). The CD comes with a nice booklet in French and English with background info on the release.
* You can purchase this collection at Amazon

4. Michel Legrand - Le Mans / The Hunter Original Soundtracks
The talented French composer Michel Legrand worked on some of Steve McQueen’s finest films, including the original Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and the excellent racing film Le Mans (1971). Le Mans features one of the composer’s best and most exciting scores, but the soundtrack hasn’t been available on CD for a long time. This new release from Universal Jazz France includes the complete soundtrack for Le Mans as well as the excellent score he composed for another Steve McQueen film, The Hunter (1980). The CD also contains a great booklet with background information about the composer’s work.
* You can purchase this collection at Amazon

5. Marc Wilkinson - Blood on Satan’s Claw Original Soundtrack
Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) is one of my favorite British horror films and without a doubt one of Tigon Studio’s best releases. Most critics and horror fans tend to praise The Witchfinder General as Trigon’s best horror film, but I personally find Blood on Satan’s Claw more effective and chilling. The film also has a really terrific and extremely creepy score by composer Marc Wilkinson, which was made available on CD for first time last year from Trunk Records. Unfortunately this is a limited release so grab it while you can. It also contains some interesting liner notes.
* You can listen to sound samples, download individual song MP3s and purchase the soundtrack at Amazon

6. Ennio Morricone - Morricone Giallo
I love the scores that Ennio Morricone has composed for many gialli films and this wonderful collection of music from Bella Casa brings together some of the composers best and most unusual compositions from many of my favorite Italian thrillers including The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1971), The Fifth Cord (1971) and Short Night of the Glass Dolls (1971), plus many more. This is not necessarily easy listening since much of the music included on the CD is rather experimental and unnerving, but it showcases Morricone’s great range and will make listeners immediately feel like they’ve just wandered into the set of a giallo production.
* You can purchase this collection at Amazon

7. Armando Trovajoli - Armando Trovajoli
Armando Trovajoli is one of Italy’s greatest composers and this fine collection from Cinedelic Records collects some of the composers best music from a wide selection of films, which he personally picked for this release. It’s a terrific introduction to his work and the CD also comes with an impressive book with lots of color photos, poster art from the films he worked on and extensive liner notes from many of the actors and directors he has worked with over the years.
* You can purchase this collection at Amazon

8. Various Artists - A Musical and Visual Tribute to the Cinema of Pasolini
The fascinating and controversial director Pier Paolo Pasolini worked with some of Italy’s finest composers during his lifetime, including Ennio Morricone, Carlo Rustichelli and Benedetto Ghiglia. This excellent collection from Cinedelic Records brings together some hard to find music from many of the director’s best films including Teorema (1968), Medea (1969), and Salo (1975). It also comes with a beautiful book that contains rare photos of the director at work, poster art, a filmography and detailed notes.
* You can purchase this collection at Amazon

9. Nora Orlandi - Il Dolce Corpo di Deborah Original Soundtrack
Nora Orlandi’s amazing score for the giallo film Il Dolce Corpo di Deborah (The Sweet Body of Deborah, 1968) was released on CD by Fin de Siècle Media for the first time last year. It’s an incredibly lush score with lots of groovy lounge and jazz influences. It’s also the only soundtrack from a film that I’ve never actually seen on my list. I love Orlandi’s film scores enough to purchase this blind and I can’t recommend it enough if you happen to enjoy Italian film scores as much as I do, but I’d also love to see Il Dolce Corpo di Deborah get an official DVD release in the U.S.
* You can purchase this collection at Amazon

10. Bruno Maderna - La Morte Ha Fatto L’Uovo Original Soundtrack
One of the most unusual giallo films I’ve ever had the pleasure to see is Giulio Questi’s La Morte Ha Fatto L’Uovo (Death Laid an Egg, 1968) and the film contains an impressive avant-garde score by composer Bruno Maderna. An edited version of the soundtrack had previously been available on CD, but last year Fin de Siècle Media released a wonderful new and complete version of Maderna’s quirky score for the film with 10 previously unheard bonus tracks.
* You can purchase this collection at Amazon

11. Kunihiko Murai - Hotwax Trax Composer Series Kunihiko Murai
This terrific collection of music contains the soundtracks composer Kunihiko Murai created for two of Eizo Sugawa’s Toho crime films, which starred the great action star Hiroshi Fujioka. The first score featured on the CD is for the 1974 film Yajû Shisubeshi: Fukushû no Mekanikku (Beast Must Die: The Mechanics of Revenge) and the second one included on the disc is for the 1973 film Yajû Gari (Beast Hunting). Both scores are really terrific and should appeal to anyone who enjoys funky jazz infused soundtracks.
* You can listen to song samples and purchase the CD at Movie Grooves

12. Luis Enríquez Bacalov - Django (Expanded Version) Original Soundtrack
Along with the more recognized work of Ennio Morricone, the talented composer Luis Enríquez Bacalov has created some of the best and most memorable soundtracks for many great spaghetti westerns. His score for Django (1966) has been available on CD for years, but last year the Japanese label Verita Note released this impressive soundtrack in it’s entirety. The Django Expanded Version contains 19 previously unreleased tracks and the quality is far superior to other releases I’ve heard.
* You can purchase this CD at Amazon

13. Various Artists - A Musical and Visual Tribute to the Cinema of Dario Argento
Please see my previous post about this release.

14. Ennio Morricone - Morricone Awards
At the 79th Academy Award show last year Ennio Morricone was finally honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award celebrating his long career as one of cinema’s greatest composers. In honor of the event, Cinedelic Records released a wonderful CD and book collection simply called Morricone Awards. This superb selection of music is a terrific introduction to the composer’s work if you’re unfamiliar with it, but it also comes with an impressive 62 page book that contains a complete discography of Morricone’s work with lots of rare original record sleeve art, film poster reproductions and photos that will impress longtime Morricone fans as well.
* You can purchase this CD at Amazon

15. Ronald Stein - Mad, Mod & Macabre: The Ronald Stein Collection
If you’d like to read a little more about this release, please read the brief write-up about Mad, Mod & Macabre: The Ronald Stein Collection that I wrote in June 2007 for Cinedelica.

16. Jiri Sust & Jiri Slitr - Daisies Original Soundtrack
I’ve only seen a handful of films from the Czech New Wave, but Daises (Sedmikrasky, 1966) is one of my favorites. The film features an unusual and quirky score by Jiri Sust and Jiri Slitr, which was released on CD for the first time in 2007 by Finders Keepers Records. The original soundtrack for the film has never been made available before in any format, but the music was taken from the original reels. The CD also contains unseen archive images from the film, poster art reproductions and detailed liner notes.
* You can purchase this CD at Amazon

17. Various Artists - Attori A Mano Armata
If you’d like to read a little more about this great Cinedelic Records release, please check out the brief write-up I did for Cinedelica on Attori A Mano Armata: The main actors of the most Violent season of the Italian Cinema Collection in May 2007.

18. Various Artists - A Musical and Visual Tribute to the Cinema of Bernardo Bertolucci
Please see my previous post about this release.

19. Laurie Johnson - Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter Original Soundtrack
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) is one of Hammer’s best vampire films and it also happens to have a terrific and eerie score by British composer Laurie Johnson, but it has never been available in its entirety until last year when BUYSOUNDTRAX Records released it in association with GDI Records. Unfortunately this is a limited release, but it comes with a nice color booklet with movie stills and even features liner notes written by Hammer glamour girl Caroline Munro.
* You can purchase this collection at Amazon

20. Maurice Jarre - Film Music Masterworks Maurice Jarre
This nice collection from Film Music Masterworks features music from the film’s Jarre worked on with David Lean such as Ryan’s Daughter (1970), Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965), as well as compositions from some of the composer’s finest work from René Clément’s Is Paris Burning? (1966) and John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King (1975), mostly performed by the City Of Prague Philharmonic. It’s a great introduction to some of the composer’s best work and for the incredibly low retail price of $9.98, it’s well worth picking up.
* You can listen to sound samples, download individual song MP3s and purchase the CD at Amazon

I also recommend the other terrific Film Music Masterwork collections that were released in 2007 for Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein and Nino Rota.

Comments (9)

The Dirty Joker Turns 74

by Kimberly Lindbergs | December 6, 2007

Categories | Actors, Japanese Cinema, Joe Shishido, Seijun Suzuki, Nikkatsu

One of the great action stars of Japanese cinema turns 74 today and I’d like to wish Joe “Dirty Joker” Shishido a very Happy Birthday! It’s hard to put into words all the joy that Joe has managed to give me over the past 18 years or so since I first discovered his work, but I will say that whenever I’m asked what my favorite films are Youth of the Beast (1963), Gate of Flesh (1964) and Branded to Kill (1967) are all films that instantly come to mind. Joe made many incredible films in the sixties, but he’s still acting today and has never really stopped.

Joe (or Jo) got his start in acting in 1954 after he auditioned for the Nikkatsu film studios. He began appearing in action films almost immediately, but he wasn’t getting the tough guy roles he wanted. Like many actors he ended up undergoing some plastic surgery to alter his appearance and after the surgery Joe went on to appear in some of Nikkatsu’s most popular action films and he quickly became a star. He often worked with the great Japanese director Seijun Suzuki and together they made some of the best Japanese films of the sixties.

Joe Shishido has appeared in almost 300 movies, but unfortunately most of them are not available in the US. I would love to see more of Joe’s sixties era Nikkatsu films find their way onto DVD. Besides lots of crime films, Joe also made some Japanese westerns or “sukiyaki westerns” in the sixties that look amazing, but haven’t been seen much outside of Japan. Hopefully more of Joe’s films will be made available on DVD for American audiences in the future!

Besides acting, Joe Shishido is also an accomplished author in Japan and he has written many cookbooks and even hosted a long-running popular cooking show. He also sings and has recorded a few albums. To celebrate Joe’s birthday, I thought I’d share one of the hard to find Japanese songs he recorded for the film Rokudenashi Kagyo in 1961.

- Listen to Joe sing Rokudenashi Kagyo

Recommended Joe Shishido films on DVD:
- The Trap (1996)
- The Stairway to the Distant Past (1995)
- The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1994)
- 8 Man (1992)
- Doomed Megalopolis (1988) - An amazing anime film that Joe did voice work for
- Bloody Territories (1969)
- Branded to Kill (1967)
- Gate of Flesh (1964)
- Youth of the Beast (1963)

Recommended Links:
- Dirty Joker (Joe Shishido’s Official Website)
- Yaju no (a great Joe Shishido fansite)
- Joe Shishido at Wikipedia

Comments (16)

DVD of the Week: Tattooed Flower Vase

by Kimberly Lindbergs | November 10, 2007

Categories | Japanese Cinema, DVD of the Week, Seijun Suzuki, Nikkatsu

There were some good DVD re-releases this week such as the Special Collector’s Edition of Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) and a Deluxe Edition of Richard Lester’s Help! (1965). But my DVD pick of the week is the Kino/KimStim release of the Japanese Roman Porno film Tattooed Flower Vase (aka Kashin no Irezumi: Ureta Tsubo; 1976) directed by Masaru Konuma. Kino released four of Konuma’s Pink films in association with KimStim on Region-1 NTSC DVD this week. The other three Konuma films now available are Cloistered Nun: Runa’s Confession (aka Shudojo Runa no Kokuhaku, 1976), Wife to be Sacrificed (aka Ikenie Fujin; 1974) and Erotic Diary of an Office Lady (aka OL Kanno Nikki: Ah! Watashi no Naka de; 1977). Only Wife to be Sacrificed has been available in the U.S. on DVD before now.

I’ve only had the opportunity to see Tattooed Flower Vase, but it’s a beautiful piece of erotica with a dark sadistic edge. My experience with Konuma’s work is minimal at best, but I’ve found his early films to be visually impressive and smartly done even if they often lack the interesting social and political themes that can be found in more experimental pink films made by independent directors such as Koji Wakamatsu.

Masaru Konuma worked for the Nikkatsu studio system during the seventies and early eighties making Roman Porno films, which are a type of Pink film mainly concerned with eroticism and aesthetics. In particular Japanese eroticism and aesthetics that often confuse and confound western audiences and critics. Konuma still works for Nikkatsu making adult films but the “golden age” of Roman Porno has come and gone.

The director’s 1976 film Tattooed Flower Vase stars the lovely Naomi Tani (often referred to as one of the “queens” of Japanese erotica) as a widowed doll maker named Michiyo with a beautiful daughter Takako (Takako Kitagawa). The two women live together in a sort of quiet solitude and appear to have an unusual bond with sexual undertones. When Michiyo is drugged and taken advantage of by a doll shop owner, her erotic passions are aroused and she begins to obsess over her past sexual experiences with a deceased Kabuki actor. Things get more complicated after Michiyo’s daughter is involved in a car accident with a handsome young man named Hideo, who ends up being the son of her dead lover. Both mother and daughter begin to vie for Hideo’s attention and as the story unfolds Michiyo becomes more and more aroused by her memories. Michiyo’s erotic adventures include a passionate fling with a tattoo artist who covers her body in a beautiful traditional Japanese tattoo. Her elaborate tattoo design represents a classic Kabuki play about a woman who transforms into a snake so she can pursue her lover. In some ways Michiyo undergoes a similar transformation after she gets tattooed.

Masaru Konuma began working as an assistant director at Nikkatsu studios in the sixties and he has praised the work of the brilliant Japanese director Seijun Suzuki, who also worked at Nikkatsu. I don’t know if the two men ever worked together during the ’60s, but Konuma’s creative use of light, space and framing seems to echo Suzuki’s work at times. Tattooed Flower Vase is a lovely looking film that makes impressive use of its Kabuki themes and traditional music. I also enjoyed the way the director used traditional Japanese Washi paper dolls in Tattooed Flower Vase to reinforce particular themes.

As I mentioned above, Naomi Tani plays a doll maker in Tattooed Flower Vase and she is often photographed within the film making dolls or caressing them. She has a special talent for making Kabuki style Washi paper dolls, which obviously reference her passionate relationship with a dead Kabuki actor. The dolls also seem to symbolize the way that the women sometimes play and toy with the male characters in the movie

Masaru Konuma’s Roman Porno films are clearly designed to arouse a viewers mind and body, and if you’re bothered by explicit sexuality in films then you should probably avoid them. On the other hand, early Roman Porno films such as Tattooed Flower Vase are more erotic than pornographic, and they contain subtle nudity and censored genitalia. Having some understanding of Japanese erotica will help western viewers better appreciate the films erotic themes and the way Konuma presents various sexual acts, which could probably be seen as misogynistic or even bizarre to some shortsighted viewers.

The Tattooed Flower Vase is currently available at Amazon and it features a beautiful anamorphic (16:9) widescreen print of the film with optional English subtitles. Extras include a theaterical trailer and a brief text biography on director Masaru Konuma, which unfortunately is rather dull and uninformative. It only seems to echo the limited information about Konuma that can already be found at Wikipedia. This is a minor complaint though, and I’m grateful that Kino/KimStim are making these rare early Konuma films available on DVD.

You can find more images from the film in my Tattooed Flower Vase Flickr Gallery.

Comments (11)

12 Favorite Foreign Language Films

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 21, 2007

Categories | Movie Reviews, News, Mario Bava, Joe Shishido, Seijun Suzuki, Terence Stamp, Jess Franco

I didn’t want to just list the 12 films I sent in for inclusion that didn’t make the final list of nominees for the Foreign Language Films List without writing a bit about them and why I love them so much. My entire list is filled to the brim with Japanese, Italian and French films and that’s not just because they’re easily available. It means that I really love Japanese, Italian and French cinema. In all honesty, I didn’t expect a lot of the following films to make the final list because they’re personal favorites and some are not easily available on DVD, but that wasn’t one of the requirements. We were asked to list favorites and that’s what I did. If someone wanted me to teach a class on world cinema using my list I would have probably selected some different films.

I think the best part about creating these lists is discovering stuff out about yourself. While creating my list it I learned the following:

-The sixties is far and away my favorite film decade.
- I love Japanese crime films and the more surreal the better. At least five films in a similar vein made my list.
- I love horror/science fiction films with a Frankenstein theme. At least three films with variations of this theme made my list.
- I love films with great opening sequences. If a movie can make my jaw hit the floor within the first 10-15 minutes, it gains my instant affection. Many of the films on my list contain amazing opening sequences that grab you by the throat and never let go.
- Alain Delon is still my favorite actor. I could watch him stare out a window for 4 hours and never get bored.

So without further delay - Here is a list of 12 of my Favorite Foreign Language Films that didn’t make the final list of nominees. They’re listed in alphabetical order:

The 10th Victim a.k.a. La Decima Vittima (1965, Elio Petri)
Italian director Elio Petri won the Golden Palm at Cannes in 1971 for his film The Working Class Goes to Heaven and a Jury Prize in 1970 for his film Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, which was also nominated for an Oscar. Sadly, none of Petri’s films made the nominee list but I hoped that his stylish sixties science fiction film the The 10th Victim would. Part social satire, part dark sex comedy and all style, The 10th Victim is truly one of the sixties greatest looking films. It stars the lovely Ursula Andress and handsome Marcello Mastroianni in two of their most unforgettable roles as hunter and victim playing a televised survival game. It undoubtedly inspired many other lesser films such as The Running Man (1987) and Fukasaku’s Battle Royal (2000), but The 10th Victim is far and away one of the smartest and most adult science fiction films ever made. The fantastic cinematography by Gianni Di Venanzo and fabulous score by Piero Piccioni are tops.

- Clip from The 10th Victim

Black Lizard a.k.a. Kurotokage (1968, Kinji Fukasaku)
Kinji Fukasaku made a lot of great movies in Japan before his untimely death in 2003, but this truly surreal 1968 crime thriller is a personal favorite. It combines the best elements found in sixties era James Bond films and Film Noir with an erotic mystery that is guaranteed to leave first time viewers stunned. The film’s avant-garde “pop art” sensibility and dark humor really appeal to me. The lovely female lead is played by the reigning queen of Japanese drag performers, Akihiro Miwa, and his real-life lover (famed Japanese author Yukio Mishima who helped write the screenplay) even makes an appearance in the film. I hope to write a more in-depth review of Black Lizard very soon, but I will add that I’ve rarely had a better time at the movies than when I first saw this film back in the early 1990s.

Blood & Black Lace a.k.a. Sei Donne per l’assassino (1964, Mario Bava)
Selecting one Mario Bava film for my list was nearly impossible since he’s one of my favorite filmmakers, but I finally decided to include his original giallo film that managed to forge an entire genre, Blood and Black Lace. This amazing looking film really showcases everything that I love about Bava’s filmmaking and giallo films in general. It features some of Bava’s best and most brilliant color photography and impressive special effects that still make my eyes pop. Blood and Black Lace has inspired countless imitators, but this truly original piece of work remains bold and exciting some 40 years after it was first made.

- German language trailer for Blood and Black Lace

The Diabolical Doctor Z a.k.a. Miss Muerte (1966, Jess Franco)
I love a lot of Jess Franco films, but I also have my favorites and The Diabolical Doctor Z was the first film that made me a Franco fan for life. This incredible looking Spanish/French production features a terrific international cast and boasts some of Franco’s most impressive directing. It was the film that really cemented Franco’s name in the world of international cinema and it contains many of the director’s favorite themes that are perfectly executed here (it’s also co-written by Bunuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carriere). The film finds inspiration in Georges Franju’s classic Eyes Without a Face as well as old Universal monster films, but somehow Franco still manages to give the film a very original and modern feel that is all his own.

- Bad American trailer for The Diabolical Doctor Z

The Face of Another a.k.a. Tanin no Kao (1966, Hiroshi Teshigahara)
I’ve already written about Teshigahara’s film in great detail so I won’t bother saying much more, but you can find my previous thoughts about this amazing film here.

- Japanese trailer for The Face of Another

Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973, Shunya Ito)
I’ve loved the Japanese Female Prisoner Scorpion films since I first discovered them being released on DVD in the states in 2002. They’re on unusual blend of two genres (Pinky Violence and Women in Prison films) that somehow manage to take what could be considered very trashy and exploitive themes and turn them into truly great avant-garde filmmaking. Beast Stable is the third and last film in the series directed by Shunya Ito and he brings everything I love about his earlier films into this last movie in the series and turns it up to volume 10. He also manages to define his previous ideas and develop his directing style in ways that really impress me and that’s why this film is my favorite in the series. I wrote another tiny blurb about Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable earlier this year, which you can find here.

- Japanese trailer for Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable

Gonin a.k.a. Five (1995, Takashi Ishi)
The 1990s was an amazing decade for Japanese cinema and I wanted to include films made by many great directors from this period on my list such as Takeshi Kitano, Takeshi Miike, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hirokazu Koreeda, but after I started slowly chipping away at my long list of Favorite Foreign Language films to select a mere 25 for inclusion on my list, Gonin was the one film from the decade that remained (I also assumed those other directors would make the list without my vote). Takashi Ishi has only made a few worthwhile films and Gonin is far and away his greatest achievement, but its influence on modern Japanese cinema shouldn’t be underestimated. This incredible crime film involves a gang of misfits who come together and try to rob the local yakuza, but things don’t exactly go as planned and as the film unfolds in a thunderous wave of unparalleled violence and mind-blowing action, it also takes on a dark, surreal and horrific tone that raises it far above most typical Asian crime films. Underneath Gonin’s slick and stylish exterior you’ll find the first film - in my moving going experience - that dared to openly exploit the gay subtext found in thousands of buddy action movies made in previous decades. It also contains some terrific performances by great Japanese actors such as the amazing Takeshi Kitano who is guaranteed to impress and give you nightmares as a bloodthirsty one-eyed hitman. I first saw Gonin when it debuted in the US in San Francisco and half the audience left before the film finished. The rest of us that remained sat in stunned silence until the very end. We all watched the credits roll until the darkened theater turned on the house lights and then we all looked at each other - half of us with tears in our eyes and the other half with our jaws still on the ground - fully aware that we had just experienced a stunning and groundbreaking film. It’s an experience I’ll never forget.

- The original Gonin trailer

Jean De Florette / Manon of the Spring (1986, Claude Berri)
It’s hard to explain why we enjoy some films more than others, but ever since I first sat through the entire 4-hour sweeping epic that is Claude Berri’s Jean De Florette and Manon of the Spring back in the late 1980s when I was in college studying film, I’ve been in love with these two movies. Together they make up a powerful drama of great beauty that manages to invoke the magic of cinema classics while telling a timeless story that can still deeply affect modern audiences. Has the French countryside ever looked so beautiful? These are films that I’ve come back to again and again when the world doesn’t seem right and I need a “pick me up” as well as a confirmation of humanity in all it’s loveliness and ugliness. The great French actor Yves Montand also delivers an incredibly moving performance in these films that always leaves me impressed.

- American trailer for Manon of the Spring

Pale Flower a.k.a. Kawaita Hana (1964, Masahiro Shinoda)
If you haven’t noticed by now, I really love Japanese crime films and many of my favorites ended up making my list because I couldn’t bare to leave them off. Shinoda’s brilliant Pale Flower manages to be both an erotic and highly subversive bit of filmmaking that perfectly represents the Japanese New Wave while keeping one foot firmly planted in the violent underworld of Japanese crime cinema. Shinoda takes what could be a simple yakuza tale and love story, and turns it into cinematic art. This gorgeous film showcases why he’s one of Japan’s greatest modern filmmakers. I naively assumed Shinoda’s amazing film Double Suicide would make the final list of nominees so I voted for this one instead, but I love them both a lot. In the end though, Pale Flower is a film I like to return to again and again and it’s complex themes appeal to me in many ways.

Santa Sangre (1989, Alejandro Jodorowsky)
With the recent release of the Jodorowsky DVD Box set in America this year I assumed that at least one of his films would make it onto the list of nominees. Obviously I assumed wrong. I expect that Jodorowsky’s brand of surrealism is still just a bit too extreme for most film audiences. That’s really a shame, because he’s made some fascinating films and my favorite Jodorowsky film is Santa Sangre. Santa Sangre is Jodorwsky’s darkest effort and his most fully realized film in my opinion. It is brimming with unforgettable imagery and startling storytelling techniques that recall an earlier time in European horror cinema seen through more modern eyes. Like many of the films on my list, Santa Sangre is not easy viewing, but it’s a film that constantly comes to mind when I think about Foreign Language Films that have deeply affected me and changed the way I view cinema as an art form.

- Clip from Santa Sangre

Teorema (1968, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
I’m not really sure that Pasolini’s Teorema counts 100% as a foreign language film, but I included it in my list anyway. Teorema is a film that seems to divide audiences and many critics find it incomprehensible or just plain trashy. I think it’s a bit of both and that’s why I love it so much. It also features some of Pasolini’s most impressive imagery and manages to mix eroticism with political and social issues in an extremely creative way. Terence Stamp is unforgettable here as the mysterious sexy stranger who enters into the life of a bourgeois family and changes their lives forever. It’s the film that introduced to me to Passolini’s work and it remains a favorite since I first saw it some 18 years ago.

- Clip from Teorema

Youth of the Beast - Criterion Collection a.k.a. Yaju no Seishun (1963, Seijun Suzuki)
Sejiun Suzuki’s Youth of the Beast is the final film on my list of favorites and it’s undoubtedly one of the best looking films of the bunch. I was astonished that none of Suzuki’s films made the list of nominees since his work has been available on DVD for many years and is supported by Criterion, but the Criterion crowd often likes to dismiss Suzuki. His films are still widely unseen and under-appreciated which is a shame. He’s one of Japan’s greatest living directors and he makes some of the most entertaining and beautiful looking films that I’ve ever seen. I had an extremely hard time trying to decide which Suzuki film I would select for inclusion on my list. He is the only director that I almost broke my own rule for because I couldn’t pick between the dark WWII drama Gate of Flesh (which I raved about here) and this mind-blowing crime film. Youth of the Beast was the first film that gained Suzuki a reputation in Japan for making unbelievably stylish and over-the-top crime films that left audiences reeling and confused his critics. It was also the first film that brought Suzuki and his longtime star Jo Shishido together, and the two men truly make movie magic on screen that has to be seen to be believed. Youth of the Beast was made only a year after the first James Bond film and yet in many ways it’s light years ahead of any adult action films shot during that decade and made on probably half the budget. Besides mind-blowing action sequences, jaw-dropping photography and an amazingly effective score, the film is also infused with Suzuki’s own brand of eroticism and violence, and it showcases his incredibly modern storytelling abilities that have inspired countless imitators. If you rent Suzuki’s Youth of the Beast you are guaranteed a knockout night at the movies that you’ll never forget so if you’re unfamiliar with the director’s work, do yourself a favor and discover it soon.

- Clips from Youth of the Beast

While I was compiling this list of 25 favorites I came up with over 100 films that I wanted to add to make mention of so maybe someday I’ll share my entire list since I regret not including many films - in particular horror films. Lists are tricky things and limited by what we have seen. I don’t like sharing them since my list of favorites could change at any given day depending on my mood and whatever new films I’m exposed to, but I can honestly say that all 25 films on this list will always be personal favorites.

Comments (31)

“Dead man coming through!”

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 20, 2006

Categories | Movie Reviews, Directors, Japanese Cinema, War, Joe Shishido, Seijun Suzuki, Criterion, Nikkatsu

Seijun Suzuki on the set of Gate of Flesh (a.k.a. Nikutai no mon), 1964
To put things simply, Gate of Flesh is one of Seijun Suzuki’s greatest films and without a doubt one of the best films produced in Japan in 1964.

Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter, Youth of the Beast, etc.) shot Gate of Flesh for the Japanese Nikkatsu studios at the time as an “adult film” which would later be called “Roman Porno” a.k.a. pink movies, but in usual Suzuki style the great director makes it much more than just a standard adult film. Like many Japanese filmmakers and actors from the same era, Suzuki had survived WW2 and as a soldier he had experienced firsthand the devastation that the war had brought to Japan. The director brilliantly uses his own anti-American sentiments at the time, as well as his obvious resentment against his own country in Gate of Flesh, to tell a a haunting story about damaged people and missed opportunities.

Besides being a thoughtful social commentary about WW2, Gate of Flesh is also filled with amazing imagery and stunning set designs. Suzuki knows how to make the most of creative color photography, stylish framing, a great soundtrack and his minimal budget. His impressive eye for pulp style drama, as well as detail, is on full display here. He also doesn’t shy away from using plenty of symbolism and iconographic imagery that is hard to miss. A few critics have called his work heavy-handed, but I find it breathtakingly modern.

The talented actor Jo Shishido (Youth of the Beast, Branded to Kill, Bloody Territories, etc.) gives what could be his greatest performance in Gate of Flesh as a broken Japanese solider running from the law and longing for the past. He soon meets his match in a band of prostitutes who all vie for his attentions in the hopes that he’ll somehow redeem their shattered lives. All the actresses in the movie are marvelous in their roles, but little known Satoko Kasai really stands out as the sensitive and smart, tough prostitute Sen and Yumiko Nogawa (Story of a Prostitute, Zatoichi and the Fugitives, Band of Assassins, etc.) does a great job of transforming from good girl to wicked woman in her extremely demanding role as Maya.

Also worth a mention is the wonderful soundtrack by Naozumi Yamamoto that makes great use of authentic Japanese instruments and driving rhythms. Yamamoto’s music really helps to evoke a mood of stifling doom throughout the entire movie.

I think Gate of Flesh is easily one of Criterion’s most interesting releases and considering the size and scope of their release catalog that’s saying a lot. The quality of the DVD is amazing and the widescreen print transfer looks and sounds terrific. The DVD also contains a beautiful still gallery and insightful interviews with director Seijun Suzuki as well as art director/production designer Takeo Kimura. Seijun Suzuki is a man of his times with an unusual sense of humor and he tends to be a lot more humble and soft spoken than most modern Japanese directors, but the interviews are really interesting and shed a lot of light on this fascinating 1964 production. I think the quality as well as the extras on the DVD make this Criterion release well worth owning if you’re a fan of Japanese postwar cinema.

At the time that Seijun Suzuki made Gate of Flesh and many of his other films, his work was often dismissed by critics inside and outside Japan, who considered him a minor director reduced to making what they considered second rate movies. Thankfully stylish genre pictures such as the Roman Porno films of Japan as well as the Pinky Violence movies and Yakuza Crime pictures have been given a second life on DVD recently. Modern critics around the world with an appreciation and understanding of genre cinema have been able to reevaluate the important work of Japanese New Wave directors like Seijun Suzuki, Kinji Fukasaku and Yasuzo Masumura, with a much more sympathetic eye and offer them the long overdue critical praise that had previously only been heaped on directors like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu.

With the growing interest in Japanese genre cinema and the release of many previously unreleased films to DVD by companies like Criterion and Panik House, Japanese film fans can look forward to even more critical attention being given to films often ignored or dismissed. Suzuki’s Gate of Flesh should be appreciated for what it is, an astonishing, thought-provoking and creative film made for a studio that only wanted him to deliver cheaply made entertainment.

(Originally written Aug. 2005)

Comments (4)