Quote:
A three part-film based on short stories about the difficult lot of women in the early Meiji era. This is the film that swept almost all the Japanese awards for the year of Tokyo Story and Ugetsu (among others great films) — and lost to the fairly inconsequential Gate of Hell at the Cannes Festival. Imai and Kinoshita (and not Ozu, Naruse or Mizoguchi) were the most popular (and critically acclaimed) directors of the Japanese Golden Age of the 50s. While I find the contemporaneous adulation for Kinoshita beyond my understanding, I have found the few Imai films I’ve seen fairly impressive. And this is no exception.

This film has an interesting structure. Part 1 lasts around 20 minutes, part 2 around 40, and part 3 around 60. And part 1 is the most muted and slow moving — while part 3 is the most noisy and (literally) in your face.

Quote:
Story 1 : “The Thirteenth Night”. Seki turns up at her parents’ house in the dead of night, where she breaks down and says she cannot continue to live with her husband, a rich man to whom the family is indebted. After a tearful and long discussion, they convince her to return. On the way home, the rickshaw driver turns out to be an old school friend, and they reminisce about the old days. …. Story 2 : “The Last Day Of The Year”. Mine is a hard-working maid in the house of a miserly, slave-driving old woman who is burdened by a wastrel son, who pesters the old woman and her new husband for money to pay off gambling debts. Mine’s uncle is her only surviving relative, and the man who raised her, who is very ill and needs money to repay a loanshark. Mine promises to borrow the money from her employer but, although the old woman initially agrees, she breaks that promise on the due date, New Year’s Eve. Can honest Mine resist the temptation to steal ? ….. Story 3: “An Inlet of Muddy Water”. The trials and tribulations of a group of young to middle-aged whores. All the women in this particular bawdy house look up to and admire the stunning O-Riki. But O-Riki is nevertheless troubled. Gen, a shabby coolie, hangs around and pesters her, despite having a long-suffering wife and a young son, who calls O-Riki “The Demon”. One night, desperate for clients, several of the girls lunge at and literally drag some passers-by inside. One of these men is cultured and gentlemanly, and becomes O-Riki’s regular client. She looks forward to his visits and hopes he will marry her. Meanwhile, Gen’s wife alternates between solicitousness and harassment, and home life becomes tough.

An.Inlet.of.Muddy.Water.1953.WEBRIP.576p.x264.AC3.KJNU.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	2 h 10 min
Size: 	2.93 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	768x576 
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	3 000 kb/s
BPP: 	0.283
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 1.0ch AC-3 @ 224 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/04E0D438F22711E/An.Inlet.of.Muddy.Water.1953.WEBRIP.576p.x264.AC3.KJNU.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Tadashi Imai – Nigorie AKA An Inlet of Muddy Water (1953) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

The story of a group of young people who organise their own travelling symphony orchestra to provide music for people living in remote villages shortly after the war.

Koko.ni.izumi.ari.1955.1080p.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-SbR.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	2 h 29 min
Size: 	8.98 GiB
Video
Codec: 	h264
Resolution: 	1440x1080 
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	29.970 fps
Bit rate: 	8 368 kb/s
BPP: 	0.180
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch E-AC-3 @ 224 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/66F522738C24FE5/Koko.ni.izumi.ari.1955.1080p.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-SbR.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/C4E07F316B3CE52/Koko_ni_Izumi_Ari_(1955)_English_03.srt

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Tadashi Imai – Koko ni izumi ari AKA There is a Spring (1955) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

When a married woman has an affair with a young musician, feudal Japanese law requires that both offenders pay with their lives. However, the woman’s husband blames himself for his wife’s straying and attempts to thwart the law demanding capital punishment.

Quote:
Tadashi Imai’s Yoru no Tsuzani was released in English-speaking countries as The Adulteress. Set in 18th century Japan, the story zeroes in on a faithful wife who is driven to distraction by her husband’s lengthy absences. She is also driven into the arms of another man. Given the sexual mores prevalent in feudal Japan, the husband is forgiven his neglect, while the wife is exiled from polite society as an adulteress. The actual villain of the piece is the wife’s lover, depicted as a glib-tongued deceiver. In the end, it is the lover who suffers the most, though no one is spared the tragedy of the situation. More accessible to Western audiences than most of Imai’s films, Yoru no Tsuzani was one of the highlights of the 1958 Brussels Film Festival.

Night.Drum.1958.WEBRIP.576p.x264.AC3.KJNU.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 34 min
Size: 	2.14 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	766x576 
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	3 000 kb/s
BPP: 	0.284
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 1.0ch AC-3 @ 224 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/1CAF9E90246E734/Night.Drum.1958.WEBRIP.576p.x264.AC3.KJNU.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Tadashi Imai – Yoru no tsuzumi AKA Night Drum (1958) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

“The Time of Reckoning” transforms a screwball-comedy plot into a sober study of a successful businessman with serious relationship problems involving three women: his wife of ten years who announces she is pregnant by another man; a mistress who wants to have a baby with him; and an ex-lover who claims he fathered her son.

Tadashi Imai - The Time Of Reckoning [1968].mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 59 min
Size: 	4.16 GiB
Video
Codec: 	V_MPEG2
Resolution: 	720x480 
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
Frame rate: 	29.970 fps
Bit rate: 	4 688 kb/s
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/CE7F55F7E64571B/Tadashi_Imai_-_The_Time_Of_Reckoning__1968_.mkv https://nitro.download/view/A593CF0B886108C/Fushin.no.Toki.aka.The.Time.of.Reckoning.1968.chs.01-59-29.BYnoela09.rev1.srt https://nitro.download/view/5DA705C82AABA63/Tadashi_Imai_-_The_Time_Of_Reckoning__1968_.srt

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

thanks to @xrt for this copy

The post Tadashi Imai – Fushin no toki AKA The Time Of Reckoning (1968) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

PLOT:
The attempted suicide of his fiancée prompts a Japanese salary-man to read his family chronicles and look back at the life of his ancestors. They were samurai, the military nobility caste who carried out acts of violence at the behest of feudal lords, but suffered even more so under their cruelty, often forced into ritual suicide (seppuku). The women were under constant threat of kidnapping and rape, and the men subjected to arbitrary disfigurement and homosexual slavery … In a radical departure from the usual romanticisation of the samurai, director Tadashi Imai – using period sets and sometimes graphic images – made a film fundamentally critical of medieval Japan’s feudal system and the inhumane samurai code called bushido. In addition, the final two of the eight episodes in the film draw parallels between that and kamikaze pilots of World War II, as well as Japan’s modern achievement-oriented society. Bushido zankoku monogatari was awarded the Golden Bear at the 1963 Berlin International Film Festival.

Cruel.Tales.of.Bushido.1963.Tadashi.Imai.576p.BluRay.x264.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	2 h 2 min
Size: 	2.54 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x428 
Aspect ratio:  	2.40:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	2 806 kb/s
BPP: 	0.267
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 1.0ch AC-3 @ 160 kb/s (Mono)

https://nitro.download/view/A4297BB7A7CF839/Cruel.Tales.of.Bushido.1963.Tadashi.Imai.576p.BluRay.x264.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English, French

The post Tadashi Imai – Bushidô zankoku monogatari AKA Cruel Tales Of Bushido (1963) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Oshima, a rich girl married Shinzo, and her cousin girl Sawa has been jealous of Oshima deeply. Sawa cursed Oshima so Shinzo could not hold her and do anything at all. Shinzo hated Oshima, and he made love with Sawa.

Yoba.1976.DVDRip.x264-PTP.mkv

General
Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	1h 35mn
Size:	1.41 GiB
DXVA:	Compatible
Minimum settings:	Met
Video
Codec:	x264
Resolution:	720x374 ~> 841x374
Aspect ratio:	2.25:1
Frame rate:	23.976 fps
Bit rate:	1 923 kb/s
Audio
Japanese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/CF29414D662DF8F/Yoba.1976.DVDRip.x264-PTP.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Tadashi Imai – Yoba AKA The Possessed (1976) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Summary from IMDb:
The story centres around a border security team in 1935 Korea. Upon receiving new recruits they hold a welcome party including a restaurant owner and his daughter. The border’s commander has a wife (Hara Setsuko) who helps deliver a neighbour’s baby. One day a border guard is killed by a Chinese bandit who is hiding in the area. The dead man’s sister comes to visit and is given help to further her studies. The film was shot in Korea featuring many Korean actors and crew.

1.63GB | 1h 35m | 618×480 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/63E1625FFE67ADA/Suicide_Troops_of_the_Watchtower_(1943).mkv
https://nitro.download/view/B67122911EEA388/Suicide_Troops_of_the_Watchtower.srt

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Tadashi Imai – Bôrô no kesshitai AKA Suicide Troops of the Watchtower (1943) first appeared on Cinema of the World.