Kenji Misumi

Shot in the midst of the Daiei debacle, a yakuza film that turns its lack of resources into a strength, multiplying scenes of fog with poetic opacity.Read More »

The hero avenges a band of samurai whose master was unceremoniously assassinated for seeking justice and better conditions for the citizens. The city shall burn for the elite’s greed.Read More »

While traveling through the countryside Kyoshiro is forced to defend himself against an angry samurai trying to kill an apparently innocent woman. He is soon to find out that the woman is far from innocent and he unwittingly becomes ensnared in a convoluted plot kill off a band of smugglers that have been siphoning off loot from the shogun’s treasury and giving it to one of the local (and very corrupt) officials. True to form, Kyoshiro sides with the underdogs and uses his blade to make things right. The sword battles in this film are very good and Kyoshiro dispenses his dark humor with the same flair as he wields his blade. As with the other films in this series, the camerawork and widescreen format are a treat and the acting and overall production values make this one a joy to watch. Oh yes, Kyoshiro takes special care of the “innocent” woman from the start of the film.Read More »

In this one, Nemuri meets a local Finance Commissioner who runs afoul of the Shogun’s high-living daughter when he cuts off her allowance. Nemuri is impressed by the old man’s integrity and saves his life, thus making himself a target of assassins. It’s an interesting tale relating the delicate dilemmas faced by public officials in old Japan trying to maintain public order yet not offend powerful interests. However, it gets quite convoluted as it involves a growing cast of characters, including at least five men who want to kill Nemuri, all for varying reasons, including one who just wants to test his swordplay skill against Nemuri’s “Full Moon Cut” technique.Read More »

Two sisters, Kyoko and Hisako, run a restaurant in Kyoto. But an incident with the latter’s fiancé puts their relationship, and the future of their cuisine in jeopardy.Read More »

This is another of the many versions of the famous story: a poor samurai causes the death of his ailing wife, who is first disfigured by poison (seemed far-fetched until the Yushchenko dioxine case), in order to marry a rich woman and enjoy a life of leisure. But the wife comes back as a vengeful ghost and the bad end unhappily as they should.Read More »

Before and after WWII, the complex emotional tribulations of a woman and her husband.Read More »

The second part of the ‘Sword’ trilogy by Kenji Misumi is an interesting story about a young man obsessed by kendo. Kokubu is a university student and has just been made captain of the kendo team, just ahead of Kagawa. Kokubu doesn’t think of anything other than kendo, this kind of upsets his fellow students, especially those that look up to him. Kagawa is the worst. He, having just lost the place for captain, gets obsessed by becoming a better kendo swordsman then Kokubu. Around his back, Kagawa is stirring up the anti-Kokubu sentiments in the group. He even charters his sister to seduce him. When the team goes into a trainingcamp led by Kokubu, things go awry…Read More »

PLOT: A samurai seeks revenge and redemption after his family is executed by a rival clan.Read More »