Yasuzo Masumura takes horror into kinky territory in an Edogawa Ranpo shocker about obsession, namely, mixing sex and death. Michio is the tactile-fixated blind sculptor who imprisons model Aki to serve as an ultimate objectified ‘body’ — but she eventually joins him, taking the lead on a delirious suicidal journey of discovery. Probably once considered pornographic, the 1969 show is fairly tame by today’s Nc-17 standards, and not as radically violent or abhorrent as one might expect — but it’s still loaded with weird, Dangerous Ideas. The sets are not to be believed — the unhinged artist lives in a surreal workspace surrounded by hundreds of oversized sculptures of body parts.
The Blind Beast (Moju)
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date August 24, 2021 / Moju; Warehouse / 39.95
Starring: Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku.
Cinematography: Setsuo Kobayashi
Art Director: Shigeo Muno
Original Music: Hikaru Hayashi
Written by Yoshio Shirasaka from a novel...
The Blind Beast (Moju)
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date August 24, 2021 / Moju; Warehouse / 39.95
Starring: Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku.
Cinematography: Setsuo Kobayashi
Art Director: Shigeo Muno
Original Music: Hikaru Hayashi
Written by Yoshio Shirasaka from a novel...
- 8/21/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In the middle of a newly expanded blockbuster season, I'm in the mood for Criterion. The specialty label announced their upcoming, atypical arthouse releases for the stereotypical scary season (i.e. October 2021), and the first one that jumps out at me is Onibaba, for the reasons highlighted in the official Criterion Collection release announcement: "Deep in the windswept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished older woman and her daughter-in-law murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for the most meager of sustenance. When a bedraggled neighbor returns from battle, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio's tenuous existence, before an ominous, ill-gotten demon mask seals their horrifying fate. "Driven by primal emotions, dark eroticism, a frenzied score by Hikaru Hayashi, and stunning...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/19/2021
- Screen Anarchy
Produced by the Art Theatre Guild, Kaneto Shindo’s “Hymn” is one of many adaptations of Junichiro Tanizaki’s “A Portrait of Shunkin”, and a truly thorough exploration of the dark side of love.
The film begins with a researcher, played by Kaneto Shindo himself, who read a book about the relationship of Shunkin with Sasuke, and now tries to to find some of the people who witnessed the story first hand, in order to find out the truth about the events. His search brings him into an elderly home, where a now retired maid from Shunkin’s household, Teru, is living. Through bribes and timely questions, the researched gradually draws the truth from her, who is soon revealed as a true voyeur, always listening behind closed doors and looking from the shadows on what was going on between the two protagonists.
In that fashion, we witness...
The film begins with a researcher, played by Kaneto Shindo himself, who read a book about the relationship of Shunkin with Sasuke, and now tries to to find some of the people who witnessed the story first hand, in order to find out the truth about the events. His search brings him into an elderly home, where a now retired maid from Shunkin’s household, Teru, is living. Through bribes and timely questions, the researched gradually draws the truth from her, who is soon revealed as a true voyeur, always listening behind closed doors and looking from the shadows on what was going on between the two protagonists.
In that fashion, we witness...
- 12/17/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Kaneto Shindo was a prolific director and screenwriter who created some of the most memorable films of the black and white era, such as “Onibaba” (1964) and “Kuroneko” (1968). In “The Naked Island” (1960) Shindo gives us a window on a small farming family living on an island, showing the harsh conditions under which they survive.
The film begins with a man and woman collecting water that they transport back to the island on a small vessel. We see that they have two sons living with them. It is clear from the beginning that theirs is a difficult life. The dry earth means that they are required to continually water their crops, travelling back and forth from the island and hauling their buckets up the steep hill. The eldest son is taken by his mother to school on the mainland. While much of their time is taken up with an endless struggle against the elements,...
The film begins with a man and woman collecting water that they transport back to the island on a small vessel. We see that they have two sons living with them. It is clear from the beginning that theirs is a difficult life. The dry earth means that they are required to continually water their crops, travelling back and forth from the island and hauling their buckets up the steep hill. The eldest son is taken by his mother to school on the mainland. While much of their time is taken up with an endless struggle against the elements,...
- 4/8/2020
- by Matthew Cooper
- AsianMoviePulse
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
The Witch (Robert Eggers)
“We will conquer this wilderness. It will not consume us,” foreshadows our patriarch in the first act of The Witch, a delightfully insane bit of 17th century devilish fun. As if Ingmar Bergman and Ken Russell co-directed Kill List, Robert Eggers’ directorial debut follows a God-fearing Puritan family banished from their settlement in a colonial New England, only to have their deep sense of faith uprooted when our title character has her way with their fate.
The Witch (Robert Eggers)
“We will conquer this wilderness. It will not consume us,” foreshadows our patriarch in the first act of The Witch, a delightfully insane bit of 17th century devilish fun. As if Ingmar Bergman and Ken Russell co-directed Kill List, Robert Eggers’ directorial debut follows a God-fearing Puritan family banished from their settlement in a colonial New England, only to have their deep sense of faith uprooted when our title character has her way with their fate.
- 5/17/2016
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
Don't let your boss see this movie, it'll give them ideas. Writer-director Kaneto Shindo reduces the human drama to its basics, as an isolated family endures a backbreaking existence of dawn 'til dusk toil to eke out a living. It's a beautiful but humbling ode to adaptability and human resolve. And the show has no conventional dialogue. The Naked Island Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 811 1960 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 94 min. / Hadaka no shima / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 17, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Nobuko Otowa, Taiji Tonoyama, Shinji Tanaka, Masanori Horimoto. Cinematography Kiyomi Kuroda Film Editor Toshio Enoki Original Music Hikaru Hayashi Produced by Eisaku Matsuura, Kaneto Shindo Written and Directed by Kaneto Shindo
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Writer-director Kaneto Shindo started his own production company in the 1950s earning critical attention but not great success with pictures on topical themes -- the legacy of Hiroshima, the story of the fishing trawler irradiated by a hydrogen blast.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Writer-director Kaneto Shindo started his own production company in the 1950s earning critical attention but not great success with pictures on topical themes -- the legacy of Hiroshima, the story of the fishing trawler irradiated by a hydrogen blast.
- 5/10/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
You want radical? Look no further. Nagisa Oshima's near-legendary issue drama makes a wickedly frightening protest against the death penalty, but then proceeds into formal abstraction and the endorsement of a violent radical position. You can't find a political 'gauntlet picture' as jarring or as potent as this one. Death by Hanging Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 798 1968 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 118 min. / Kôshikei / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 16, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Do-yun Yu, Kei Sato, Fumio Watanabe, Toshiro Ishido, Masao Adachi, Rokko Toura, Hosei Komatsu, Masao Matsuda, Akiko Koyama. Cinematography Yasuhiro Yoshioka Film Editor Sueko Shiraishi Original Music Hikaru Hayashi Written by Michinori Fukao. Mamoru Sasaki, Tsutomu Tamura, Nagisa Oshima Produced by Masayuki Nakajima, Takuji Yamaguchi, Nagisa Oshima Directed by Nagisa Oshima
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Believe me, you ain't seen nothing yet. Nagisa Oshima is a radical's radical, a cinema stylist completely committed to his politics -- which...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Believe me, you ain't seen nothing yet. Nagisa Oshima is a radical's radical, a cinema stylist completely committed to his politics -- which...
- 2/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Fandor, the premiere streaming service for independent, classic and critically-acclaimed films, shorts and documentaries, in a partnership with the Criterion Collection and Hulu Plus, is currently home to a rotation of uniquely curated bundles of Criterion films available to watch instantly via desktop, set top and mobile devices.
Every Tuesday, Fandor rolls out a new collection of films that share a common theme, genre, time period, film style, etc. These films are available on the site for 12 days before being replaced by a fresh new batch of featured Criterion masterpieces.
Fandor’S Criterion Picks For March
March 17-28: The Sixteenth Century
Carnival in Flanders(1935, Director Jacques Feyder): A small village in Flanders puts on a carnival to avoid the brutal consequences of the Spanish occupation. Ivan the Terrible(1944, DirectorSergei Eisenstein): As Ivan ascends to lead Russia, the Boyars are determined to disrupt his rule. Ivan’s relationship...
Every Tuesday, Fandor rolls out a new collection of films that share a common theme, genre, time period, film style, etc. These films are available on the site for 12 days before being replaced by a fresh new batch of featured Criterion masterpieces.
Fandor’S Criterion Picks For March
March 17-28: The Sixteenth Century
Carnival in Flanders(1935, Director Jacques Feyder): A small village in Flanders puts on a carnival to avoid the brutal consequences of the Spanish occupation. Ivan the Terrible(1944, DirectorSergei Eisenstein): As Ivan ascends to lead Russia, the Boyars are determined to disrupt his rule. Ivan’s relationship...
- 3/21/2015
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
★★★★☆ The latest welcome addition to the Masters of Cinema's growing Kaneto Shindô catalogue, the cult Japanese director's 1968 film Kuroneko (Yabu no naka no kuroneko) feels like the near-perfect partner piece to his demonic earlier effort, Onibaba. Celebrating both pictures' atmospheric, effortlessly sensual and often terrifying feudal Japan-set ghostly narratives, the restoration and ongoing preservation of these two mini masterworks has rightly helped the late Shindô to earn the kind of acclaim and reverence previously reserved for iconic figureheads such as Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu.
Loosely based on the Japanese folktale The Cat's Return, Kuroneko begins with the brutal rape and murder of a poverty-stricken mother and daughter-in-law (Nobuko Otowa and Kiwako Taichi) at the cruel hands of a pillaging band of low-life samurai. Brought back from the dead as vengeful, vampiric cat spirits, the unholy duo take it upon themselves to prey on wayward soldiers trespassing across their accursed place of rest.
Loosely based on the Japanese folktale The Cat's Return, Kuroneko begins with the brutal rape and murder of a poverty-stricken mother and daughter-in-law (Nobuko Otowa and Kiwako Taichi) at the cruel hands of a pillaging band of low-life samurai. Brought back from the dead as vengeful, vampiric cat spirits, the unholy duo take it upon themselves to prey on wayward soldiers trespassing across their accursed place of rest.
- 7/2/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Sad news everyone. Last Sunday, May 2nd, the acclaimed Japanese actor, Kei Sato, star of many a Criterion release, passed away from complications with pneumonia. A big thanks to the folks over at Toronto J-Film Pow-wow for alerting us to his passing.
Next Tuesday, May 18th, Criterion will be releasing their next Eclipse Box Set, of Nagisa Oshima’s “Outlaw Sixties.” Sato will be featured in two of the titles in the box set, Violence at Noon and Japanese Summer: Double Suicide.
I’ve listed several of the other Criterion titles that Sato starred in, including the incredible Sword of Doom from Kihachi Okamoto. You can hear our discussion of the film from January, when we were joined by Devindra Hardawar of Slashfilm and The Symbiotek Podcast.
I’m linking the cover art to the various Netflix pages for each title, and linking the film’s titles with their respective Criterion Collection pages.
Next Tuesday, May 18th, Criterion will be releasing their next Eclipse Box Set, of Nagisa Oshima’s “Outlaw Sixties.” Sato will be featured in two of the titles in the box set, Violence at Noon and Japanese Summer: Double Suicide.
I’ve listed several of the other Criterion titles that Sato starred in, including the incredible Sword of Doom from Kihachi Okamoto. You can hear our discussion of the film from January, when we were joined by Devindra Hardawar of Slashfilm and The Symbiotek Podcast.
I’m linking the cover art to the various Netflix pages for each title, and linking the film’s titles with their respective Criterion Collection pages.
- 5/10/2010
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Music can be one of cinema's great pleasures. When used with inspiration—not dictating our viewing experience with a death grip or slathered like bad wallpaper over the rest of a sound mix—it can transform either solitary shots or spliced sequences of moving images into entirely new expressions, galvanizing details within the raw photographic cinematographic material or contrapuntally complicating the initial impressions of the image.
Given our love for movie music in all its forms, whether a soundtrack features original orchestral compositions, near-abstract soundscapes, or acts as a curatorial force for collecting, exposing and (re-) contextualizing existent music, Lost Sounds and Soundtracks will serve to highlight some of our favorites, obscure and not so obscure, commercially available and ripped directly from audio-tracks where necessary. Unless analyzed within their original context, all will be divorced from their image-tracks in hopes that we might briefly give them their singular due.
***
What...
Given our love for movie music in all its forms, whether a soundtrack features original orchestral compositions, near-abstract soundscapes, or acts as a curatorial force for collecting, exposing and (re-) contextualizing existent music, Lost Sounds and Soundtracks will serve to highlight some of our favorites, obscure and not so obscure, commercially available and ripped directly from audio-tracks where necessary. Unless analyzed within their original context, all will be divorced from their image-tracks in hopes that we might briefly give them their singular due.
***
What...
- 3/31/2010
- MUBI
When watching the opening scene of Onibaba, Kaneto Shindo's “almost” horror and visceral fable on jealousy and death, we are introduced to the hole. A gaping natural well amongst a field of tall susuki grass in rural 14th century Japan. It's an ominous and a masterful set up of the mystery to come and, right before the drums and horns of Hikaru Hayashi Taiko drum soundtrack blow you into another dimension, it is both unsettling and beautiful. An unnamed woman and her daughter-in-law are surviving in a small cabin within the grass by hunting cowardly shogun who have fled the front-line of an unseen war. The pair sell the weapons and armor of the murdered to a local lecherous tradesman and dump the bodies down the dark hole in the grass as they await the return of their only son/husband from the battlefield. Their life's everyday moments pivot on...
- 7/2/2009
- by Neil Innes
- t5m.com
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