#504 – Sanjuro, (椿三十郎), 1962, Akira Kurosawa
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa’s tightly paced, beautifully composed “Sanjuro.” In this companion piece and sequel to “Yojimbo,” jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan’s evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#506 – Hana-Bi, (はなび), 1997, Takeshi Kitano
A police officer leaves the force in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into a depression, he makes questionable decisions.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#516 – Onibaba, (鬼婆), 1964, Kaneto Shindō
While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can’t steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#520 – Akira, (アキラ), 1988, Katsuhiro Otomo
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
#564 – Kwaidan, (怪談), 1964, Masaki Kobayashi
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning “ghost story,” this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior’s reflection in his teacup.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#575 – I Was Born, But…, (大人の見る繪本 生れてはみたけれど), 1932, Yasujirō Ozu
Two young brothers become the leaders of a gang of kids in their neighborhood. Ozu’s charming film is a social satire that draws from the antics of childhood as well as the tragedy of maturity.
#596 – Perfect Blue, (パーフェクトブルー), 1997, Satoshi Kon
A retired pop singer turned actress’ sense of reality is shaken when she is stalked by an obsessed fan and seemingly a ghost of her past.
#599 – In the Realm of the Senses, (愛のコリーダ), 1976, Nagisa Ōshima
Based on a true story set in pre-war Japan, a man and one of his servants begin a torrid affair. Their desire becomes a sexual obsession so strong that to intensify their ardor, they forsake all, even life itself.
#660 – A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era, (幕末太陽傳), 1957, Yuzo Kawashima
Saheji, a man-about-town, gets stuck at a high-class brothel when he can’t pay the bill. He makes the best of his situation by performing various tasks amidst the tumult of the end of the shogunate—but always by making sure to get a “commission” for his troubles.
#661 – Battles Without Honor and Humanity, (仁義なき戦い), 1973, Kinji Fukasaku
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza…
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 