Eimei Esumi

  • Seijun Suzuki – Hana to dotô AKA The Flowers and the Angry Waves (1964)

    1961-1970AdventureDramaJapanSeijun Suzuki

    Synopsis:
    A young yakuza in love with the girl who’s to marry his clan oyabun, kidnaps the girl before fleeing with her. In Tokyo, he hides under the identity of a worker while the young woman becomes a waitress in a restaurant.Read More »

  • Tatsumi Kumashiro – Yojohan Fusuma no urabari AKA The World of Geisha (1973)

    1971-1980DramaEroticaJapanTatsumi Kumashiro

    Considered to be one of the best Japanese films of the ‘70s, Tatsumi Kumashiro’s The World of Geisha is a keen examination of the swirling nexus that attracts sex to money and money to power. Set in a geisha house just before the Russo-Japanese War, a beautiful Geisha spends the night with a first-time customer who is about to be married. As an experienced geisha, she is not supposed to become personally involved (or sexually excited), but does anyway. Her fellow geishas, both young and old, become involved with a variety of relationships as Kumashiro boldly analyzes the politics of the period using images of rice riots, Korean uprisings, and the eventual Japanese invasion of Siberia.Read More »

  • Noboru Tanaka – Jitsuroku Abe Sada aka A Woman Called Abe Sada (1975)

    1971-1980ArthouseEroticaJapanNoboru Tanaka

    A true-life tale of a broken woman whose hedonistic tryst with a high-class restaurateur resulted in a horrific crime of passion that littered Tokyo headlines in 1936.Read More »

  • Seijun Suzuki – Hana to dotô AKA The Flower and the Angry Waves (1964)

    1961-1970AdventureDramaJapanSeijun Suzuki

    Synopsis:
    It’s 1964 and Seijun Suzuki continues to work harder than any other director doing the rounds. Working from a novel by Aoyama Koji he tells the story of Ogata Kikuji (Kobayashi Akira) – a former Yakuza member, now on the straight and narrow. One year ago he rescued a woman named Oshige (Matsubara Chieko) from the clutches of his Yakuza boss and shortly after they wed; for his insolent behaviour a quiet assassin called Yoshimura (Kawaji Tamio) is sent to take care of Kikuji, who is now living under the roof of reformed gangster and innkeeper Ihei (Takashina Kaku). Meanwhile, Kikuji keeps his relationship with Oshige a secret, even shielding his marriage from Manryu (Kubo Naoko) – who has taken quite a liking to him and wishes to escape her depressing situation, brought on by years of having to put up with unscrupulous men.Read More »

  • Toshio Masuda – Shuto shôshitsu AKA Tokyo Blackout (1987)

    1981-1990JapanMysterySci-FiToshio Masuda

    Synopsis:
    Based on a science-fiction novel by Sakyo Komatsu. Tokyo is suddenly covered by a dome shaped electromagnetic cloud for an unknown reason and is totally blocked and isolated from other parts of the world. The temperature inside the cloud is slowly increasing. The Soviet Pacific fleet is getting closer. The U.S. is forcing Japan to form a new government. Scientists and research workers outside Tokyo have to race against time to find out how to get through the cloud in order to rescue the 12,000,000+ lives in Tokyo and the fate of the country.Read More »

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