Documentary covering the 1946-48 Tokyo Trials.

Tokyo.Trial.1987.720p.BluRay.DD5.0.x264-RO.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	4 h 37 min
Size: 	20.3 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	986x720 
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	9 828 kb/s
BPP: 	0.577
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 5ch AC-3 @ 640 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/A54635FE0B78C0B/Tokyo.Trial.1987.720p.BluRay.DD5.0.x264-RO.mkv

Language(s):Japanese, English, Chinese, French
Subtitles:English, Japanese, Chinese

The post Masaki Kobayashi – Tôkyô saiban AKA Tokyo Trial (1983) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Masaki Kobayashi’s six-part magnum opus, The Human Condition, based on Junpei Gomikawa’s postwar novel, bears the imprint of Kobayashi’s tutelage under legendary filmmaker Keisuke Kinoshita at Shochiku’s Ofuna studio, a critical, introspective, and deeply personal account of wartime Japan framed from the perspective of an idealistic everyman (and Kobayashi’s alterego), Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai). Opening to the ironic image of lovers Kaji and Michiko (Michiyo Aratama) meeting under an archway auspiciously called the Southern Gate of Peace in Manchuria as Imperial troops march in the street, Kobayashi presents an incisive image of 1930s Japanese society that is morally consumed—and ravaged—by increasingly extremist values of militarism, occupation, and nationalism.

Parts 1 and 2 chronicles Kaji’s assignment as a labor camp manager at a rural outpost in southern Manchuria, a position that he had reluctantly accepted to avoid imminent conscription to the Imperial army. Brimming with wide-eyed (and implicitly leftist) theories on worker relations and industrial production, Kaji is confronted with the reality of the rampant abuse, exploitation, and inhumane working conditions at the mine, where forced laborers and designated “special prisoners” (presumably captured Chinese insurgents, but more likely, enslaved peasants) are routinely beaten, overworked, and undernourished (using the convenient excuse of nationwide rationing) in the name of increased production to support the ongoing war effort. Candidly exposing such taboo issues as the forced recruitment of comfort women (usually from occupied territories), slavery of the colonized population, and mass execution of civilians, the first installment of The Human Condition, nevertheless, captures redemptive moments of grace, most notably in Kaji’s cultivated relationships with the world weary, but sympathetic senior official, Okishima (So Yamamura) and the Chinese labor leader, Chen (Akira Ishihama).

Parts 3 and 4 continues with Kaji’s travails as a junior enlisted man in the Imperial army stationed at an outpost in the frozen tundra of northern Manchuria. Despite proving himself a disciplined soldier and excellent marksman, Kaji’s prospects for promotion in rank have been systematically stifled by senior officers wary of his leftist tendencies and blemished record with the Kenpeitai (military police) from his former career as a labor camp manager. Resigned to a demoralizing existence of continual harassment from veteran soldiers who share barracks with new recruits, Kaji gradually finds renewed purpose in his role as protector, initially, in supporting a bullied, fragile soldier, Obara (Kunie Tanaka), then subsequently, in leading a class of new recruits. As in Parts 1 and 2, the second installment of The Human Condition reinforces the sense of a dysfunctional morality engendered by a culture of ingrained hierarchy, entitlement, and aggression as virtue in the jingoistic quest of winning the war at all cost.

Parts 5 and 6, in a way, represents an inverted full circle, a Japanese rendition of the Long March (in this case, from north to south) in which Russian Red Army forces and Chinese insurgents patrol the countryside in the waning days of the Pacific War, and the soldiers return to a transformed landscape where the Japanese are now the displaced refugees left to fend for themselves, exploited and humiliated by their conquerors. Determined to make his way home, Kaji soon realizes that he cannot escape the toll of the battlefield, and even the hope of compassionate treatment under the ideals of an enlightened revolution proves to be an illusion in the face of petty grudges, self-interest, and miscommunication. Suffused with recurring images of figurative concealment – night time excursions, jungles, and obscuring grain fields – the final installment of The Human Condition is more austere and alienated than the preceding chapters, reflecting the sense of disillusionment intrinsic in Kobayashi’s caustic social indictment. Concluding as the installment began with the twilight image of Kaji instinctively heading south to return home to his beloved Michiko, Kobayashi creates a sobering allegory for a tainted national soul in the indelible image of noble determination and blind delusion.

Masaki Kobayashi - (1961) A Soldier's Prayer, Part 1.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 30mn
Size: 	1.48 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x432 
Aspect ratio:  	2.40:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	2 117 Kbps
BPP: 	0.200
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 224 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/4E103F6FAE8E0CD/Masaki_Kobayashi_-_(1961)_A_Soldier’s_Prayer,_Part_1.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/F068D5D543F7767/Masaki_Kobayashi_-_(1961)_A_Soldier’s_Prayer,_Part_2.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Masaki Kobayashi – Ningen no jôken AKA The Human Condition: III. A Soldier’s Prayer (1961) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Masaki Kobayashi’s six-part magnum opus, The Human Condition, based on Junpei Gomikawa’s postwar novel, bears the imprint of Kobayashi’s tutelage under legendary filmmaker Keisuke Kinoshita at Shochiku’s Ofuna studio, a critical, introspective, and deeply personal account of wartime Japan framed from the perspective of an idealistic everyman (and Kobayashi’s alterego), Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai). Opening to the ironic image of lovers Kaji and Michiko (Michiyo Aratama) meeting under an archway auspiciously called the Southern Gate of Peace in Manchuria as Imperial troops march in the street, Kobayashi presents an incisive image of 1930s Japanese society that is morally consumed—and ravaged—by increasingly extremist values of militarism, occupation, and nationalism.

Parts 1 and 2 chronicles Kaji’s assignment as a labor camp manager at a rural outpost in southern Manchuria, a position that he had reluctantly accepted to avoid imminent conscription to the Imperial army. Brimming with wide-eyed (and implicitly leftist) theories on worker relations and industrial production, Kaji is confronted with the reality of the rampant abuse, exploitation, and inhumane working conditions at the mine, where forced laborers and designated “special prisoners” (presumably captured Chinese insurgents, but more likely, enslaved peasants) are routinely beaten, overworked, and undernourished (using the convenient excuse of nationwide rationing) in the name of increased production to support the ongoing war effort. Candidly exposing such taboo issues as the forced recruitment of comfort women (usually from occupied territories), slavery of the colonized population, and mass execution of civilians, the first installment of The Human Condition, nevertheless, captures redemptive moments of grace, most notably in Kaji’s cultivated relationships with the world weary, but sympathetic senior official, Okishima (So Yamamura) and the Chinese labor leader, Chen (Akira Ishihama).

Parts 3 and 4 continues with Kaji’s travails as a junior enlisted man in the Imperial army stationed at an outpost in the frozen tundra of northern Manchuria. Despite proving himself a disciplined soldier and excellent marksman, Kaji’s prospects for promotion in rank have been systematically stifled by senior officers wary of his leftist tendencies and blemished record with the Kenpeitai (military police) from his former career as a labor camp manager. Resigned to a demoralizing existence of continual harassment from veteran soldiers who share barracks with new recruits, Kaji gradually finds renewed purpose in his role as protector, initially, in supporting a bullied, fragile soldier, Obara (Kunie Tanaka), then subsequently, in leading a class of new recruits. As in Parts 1 and 2, the second installment of The Human Condition reinforces the sense of a dysfunctional morality engendered by a culture of ingrained hierarchy, entitlement, and aggression as virtue in the jingoistic quest of winning the war at all cost.

Parts 5 and 6, in a way, represents an inverted full circle, a Japanese rendition of the Long March (in this case, from north to south) in which Russian Red Army forces and Chinese insurgents patrol the countryside in the waning days of the Pacific War, and the soldiers return to a transformed landscape where the Japanese are now the displaced refugees left to fend for themselves, exploited and humiliated by their conquerors. Determined to make his way home, Kaji soon realizes that he cannot escape the toll of the battlefield, and even the hope of compassionate treatment under the ideals of an enlightened revolution proves to be an illusion in the face of petty grudges, self-interest, and miscommunication. Suffused with recurring images of figurative concealment – night time excursions, jungles, and obscuring grain fields – the final installment of The Human Condition is more austere and alienated than the preceding chapters, reflecting the sense of disillusionment intrinsic in Kobayashi’s caustic social indictment. Concluding as the installment began with the twilight image of Kaji instinctively heading south to return home to his beloved Michiko, Kobayashi creates a sobering allegory for a tainted national soul in the indelible image of noble determination and blind delusion.

Masaki Kobayashi - (1959) No Greater Love, Part 1.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 47mn
Size: 	1.76 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x432 
Aspect ratio:  	2.40:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	2 117 Kbps
BPP: 	0.200
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 1.0ch AC-3 @ 224 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/B9A11A753830086/Masaki_Kobayashi_-_(1959)_No_Greater_Love,_Part_1.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/BACC16AC3FC9634/Masaki_Kobayashi_-_(1959)_No_Greater_Love,_Part_2.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Masaki Kobayashi – Ningen no jôken AKA The Human Condition: I. No Greater Love (1959) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Toshiro Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, an aging swordsman living a quiet life until his clan lord orders that his son marry the lord’s mistress, who has recently displeased the ruler. Reluctantly, father and son take in the woman, and, to the family’s surprise, the young couple fall in love. But the lord soon reverses his decision and demands the mistress’s return. Against all expectations, Isaburo and his son refuse, risking the destruction of their entire family. Director Masaki Kobayashi’s Samurai Rebellion is the gripping story of a peaceful man who finally decides to take a stand against injustice.

Samurai.Rebellion.1967.WEBRIP.576p.x264.EAC3.KJNU.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	2 h 0 min
Size: 	2.72 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x436 
Aspect ratio:  	2.35:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	3 000 kb/s
BPP: 	0.280
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch E-AC-3 @ 224 kb/s (Stereo)

https://nitro.download/view/15269A9D17E848F/Samurai.Rebellion.1967.WEBRIP.576p.x264.EAC3.KJNU.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Masaki Kobayashi – Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu AKA Samurai Rebellion (1967) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Masaki Kobayashi’s six-part magnum opus, The Human Condition, based on Junpei Gomikawa’s postwar novel, bears the imprint of Kobayashi’s tutelage under legendary filmmaker Keisuke Kinoshita at Shochiku’s Ofuna studio, a critical, introspective, and deeply personal account of wartime Japan framed from the perspective of an idealistic everyman (and Kobayashi’s alterego), Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai). Opening to the ironic image of lovers Kaji and Michiko (Michiyo Aratama) meeting under an archway auspiciously called the Southern Gate of Peace in Manchuria as Imperial troops march in the street, Kobayashi presents an incisive image of 1930s Japanese society that is morally consumed—and ravaged—by increasingly extremist values of militarism, occupation, and nationalism.

Parts 1 and 2 chronicles Kaji’s assignment as a labor camp manager at a rural outpost in southern Manchuria, a position that he had reluctantly accepted to avoid imminent conscription to the Imperial army. Brimming with wide-eyed (and implicitly leftist) theories on worker relations and industrial production, Kaji is confronted with the reality of the rampant abuse, exploitation, and inhumane working conditions at the mine, where forced laborers and designated “special prisoners” (presumably captured Chinese insurgents, but more likely, enslaved peasants) are routinely beaten, overworked, and undernourished (using the convenient excuse of nationwide rationing) in the name of increased production to support the ongoing war effort. Candidly exposing such taboo issues as the forced recruitment of comfort women (usually from occupied territories), slavery of the colonized population, and mass execution of civilians, the first installment of The Human Condition, nevertheless, captures redemptive moments of grace, most notably in Kaji’s cultivated relationships with the world weary, but sympathetic senior official, Okishima (So Yamamura) and the Chinese labor leader, Chen (Akira Ishihama).

Parts 3 and 4 continues with Kaji’s travails as a junior enlisted man in the Imperial army stationed at an outpost in the frozen tundra of northern Manchuria. Despite proving himself a disciplined soldier and excellent marksman, Kaji’s prospects for promotion in rank have been systematically stifled by senior officers wary of his leftist tendencies and blemished record with the Kenpeitai (military police) from his former career as a labor camp manager. Resigned to a demoralizing existence of continual harassment from veteran soldiers who share barracks with new recruits, Kaji gradually finds renewed purpose in his role as protector, initially, in supporting a bullied, fragile soldier, Obara (Kunie Tanaka), then subsequently, in leading a class of new recruits. As in Parts 1 and 2, the second installment of The Human Condition reinforces the sense of a dysfunctional morality engendered by a culture of ingrained hierarchy, entitlement, and aggression as virtue in the jingoistic quest of winning the war at all cost.

Parts 5 and 6, in a way, represents an inverted full circle, a Japanese rendition of the Long March (in this case, from north to south) in which Russian Red Army forces and Chinese insurgents patrol the countryside in the waning days of the Pacific War, and the soldiers return to a transformed landscape where the Japanese are now the displaced refugees left to fend for themselves, exploited and humiliated by their conquerors. Determined to make his way home, Kaji soon realizes that he cannot escape the toll of the battlefield, and even the hope of compassionate treatment under the ideals of an enlightened revolution proves to be an illusion in the face of petty grudges, self-interest, and miscommunication. Suffused with recurring images of figurative concealment – night time excursions, jungles, and obscuring grain fields – the final installment of The Human Condition is more austere and alienated than the preceding chapters, reflecting the sense of disillusionment intrinsic in Kobayashi’s caustic social indictment. Concluding as the installment began with the twilight image of Kaji instinctively heading south to return home to his beloved Michiko, Kobayashi creates a sobering allegory for a tainted national soul in the indelible image of noble determination and blind delusion.

Masaki Kobayashi - (1959) Road to Eternity, Part 1.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 42mn
Size: 	1.68 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x432 
Aspect ratio:  	2.40:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	2 117 Kbps
BPP: 	0.200
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 1.0ch AC-3 @ 224 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/C6E03BA69FA8197/Masaki_Kobayashi_-_(1959)_Road_to_Eternity,_Part_1.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/49007D06BE952DF/Masaki_Kobayashi_-_(1959)_Road_to_Eternity,_Part_2.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Masaki Kobayashi – Ningen no jôken AKA The Human Condition: II. Road to Eternity (1959) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

This drama is adapted from a Japanese television mini-series. In the story, an industrialist learns of a medical condition which will greatly shorten his life. He is on a trip to Europe at the time, and a glimpse of a Japanese woman in that setting causes him to fantasize about her as the personification of his impending death. As his dialogue with his imagined mortality continues, he actually meets the living woman who is the template for his fantasy, and together they tour rural churches. Gradually he comes to some kind of peace about the diagnosis. When he returns to Japan, he is met with a series of challenges which profoundly test the lessons he has learned.

2.94GB | 3h 21m | 720×540 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/9995A6A9BB00CD6/Kaseki_(1975).mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Masaki Kobayashi – Kaseki (1975) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Kobayashi Masaki’s 1968 Toho film about a man beaten to the point of deafness by his superior officer during WWII. He meets him again through his work as an inventor, and struggles through the challenge of his son’s romantic interest in the Officer’s daughter.

1.34GB | 2h 09m | 668×303 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/9C338F0696A054C/Masaki_Kobayashi_-_Nihon_no_seishun_AKA_Hymn_to_a_Tired_Man-KG.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Masaki Kobayashi – Nihon no seishun AKA Hymn to a Tired Man (1968) first appeared on Cinema of the World.