Kaneto Shindô

  • Kaneto Shindô – Kagerô AKA Heat Wave Island (1969)

    Drama1961-1970CrimeJapanKaneto Shindô

    Quote:
    One midsummer night, a ferry boat was heading to Onomichi pulling a corpse. The victim was Otoyo, a madam at the Onomichi bar “Iso Chidori.” The Onomichi Police Department organized an emergency investigation team with Chief Detective Oishi and others to solve this strange case. Toyo’s corpse had two keys. One was the key to the bar, and the other was the key to the apartment of Michiko, a young girl who worked at the same bar. The investigators pursued Michiko, and then Nakanishi, who had been in a relationship with her, but they were unable to find any clues. Eventually, Otoyo’s past came to light. It was revealed that Hongo and Tsuchida, who had been in a relationship with her, were from Mikasajima, just like Nakanishi, and that she had left her mentally disabled son at the island’s town hall and left for a remote island. Returning from Mikasajima, Oishi and his team discovered that the ferry boat was from Daikonjima, Michiko’s hometown. Read More »

  • Kaneto Shindô – Dobu AKA Ditch (1954)

    1951-1960AsianDramaJapanKaneto Shindô

    Postwar Tokyo. Pin (Jukichi Uno) and Toku (Taiji Tonoyama) live in the squatter area of Kappanuma, also known as “The Ditch”. Pin and Toku are avid gamblers. They take in Tsuru (Nobuko Otowa), a slightly demented woman who has run away from a geisha house. In order to rip Tsuru off, Pin lies that he’s a student who can’t afford his school fees. Tsuru willingly whores herself to support Pin. Eventually the neighbours start to exploit Tsuru as well.Read More »

  • Kaneto Shindô – Gin shinju AKA Love is Lost (1956)

    1951-1960DramaJapanKaneto ShindôRomance

    Quote:
    Based on the novel by Torahiko Tamiya.
    Kiichi and Sakie, a couple who ran a barbershop, and their cousin, Shutaro. However, the war forced Kiichi and Jutaro to go off to war. Kiichi’s death is reported to Sakie, and she is reunited with her cousin, who has been demobilized. The two embraced each other with the hope of starting anew, and three years passed. Then, Kiichi suddenly returned.Read More »

  • Kaneto Shindô – Tsuyomushi onna to yowamushi otoko AKA Operation Negligee AKA Strong Women, Weak Men (1968)

    1961-1970ComedyDramaJapanKaneto Shindô

    Quote:
    A mining town in Kyushu. Zenzo (Tennoyama Yasuji) is unemployed after the mountain collapses. If Dad becomes a coward, Mom will become a strong man. Fumiko (Otowa Nobuko) takes her daughter Kimiko (Yamagishi Eiko) to Kyoto and becomes a hostess at the “Salon Heian Mothership”. The two use various tactics to get money. Their target is Yamamoto Gonbei (Kanze Hideo), a large landowner in Rakusai with a 200-year tradition. Gonbei quickly becomes obsessed with Kimiko and starts giving her a lot of money. They even start thinking about getting married, but their dignified mother Ryu (Nakamura Ryoko) is against it, saying that it is outrageous to marry a mere hostess. At that time, Dad comes to consult with her because Fumiko is working and his unemployment insurance is about to be terminated.Read More »

  • Kaneto Shindô – Kokoro AKA The Heart AKA Love Betrayed (1973)

    Kaneto Shindô1971-1980ArthouseDramaJapan

    The relationship between a rich young student and his lower class friend changes when they start to live both at a guest house. Both will be attracted towards Iko, the beautiful daughter of their landlady.Read More »

  • Kaneto Shindô – Shukuzu AKA Epitome AKA Miniature (1953)

    Kaneto Shindô1951-1960ClassicsDramaJapan

    Shusei Tokuda’s starkly realistic novel about a poor girl pressed into becoming a geisha was forcefully adapted by Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba). When Ginko (Nobuko Otowa, Shindo’s wife) falls in love with one of her clients, she is handily rebuffed by the young man’s wealthy family, and left to wander from geisha house to geisha house.Read More »

  • Kaneto Shindô – Burakkubôdo AKA Black Board (1986)

    Kaneto Shindô1981-1990CrimeDramaJapan

    Written and directed by renowned Japanese filmmaker Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Hadaka no shima, Genbaku no ko), “Black Board” tells the story of middle school bullying taken to the point of homicide in this 1986 classic.Read More »

  • Kaneto Shindô – Hokusai manga AKA Edo Porn (1981)

    Arthouse1981-1990DramaJapanKaneto Shindô

    The world-famous woodblock artist Hokusai is a widower who lacks the ability to earn money, and he lives with his daughter Oei at the house of his friend, Bakin. Hokusai meets a woman called Onao and finds himself uncontrollably attracted to her, but she disappears all of a sudden. One day, an excited Oei brings home a young girl who looks exactly like Onao. Immediately, Hokusai starts to paint, using the young girl as a model. The illusion of Onao drives Hokusai back into the waves of youth as he painted the masterpiece of the gigantic octopus and the beauty being seduced, at the age of 90.Read More »

  • Kaneto Shindô – Waga michi AKA My Way (1974)

    Kaneto Shindô1971-1980ArthouseDramaJapan

    Kaneto Shindô’s 1974 film “My Way” is a throwback to films of his early career and is an exposure of the Japanese government’s mistreatment of the country’s migratory workers. Based on a true story, an elderly women resiliently spends nine months attempting to retrieve her husband’s dead body, fighting government bureaucracy and indifference all along the way.Read More »

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