letterboxd:
Akira leaves for the Mt. Gassan foothills before winter’s onset, visiting the local temple and interacting with the residents all while falling for fair Fumiko.

Gassan.1979.Tetsutaro.Murano.DVDRip.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 42 min
Size: 	4.25 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	720x480
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	29.970 fps
Bit rate: 	5 737 kb/s
BPP: 	0.554
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/5A14A06D8416836/Gassan.1979.Tetsutaro.Murano.DVDRip.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:Japanese

Many thanks to @Evan for this copy

The post Tetsutaro Murano – Gassan (1979) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A film adaptation of the novel of the same title written by Hiroshi Hatayama (畑山博).

Snow Falling on the sea (cold hearted sea) 1984-480p.mp4

General
Container:  	MPEG-4
Runtime: 	1 h 44 min
Size: 	235 MiB
Video
Codec: 	isom
Resolution: 	640x480
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	29.970 fps
Bit rate: 	179 kb/s
BPP: 	0.019
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch AAC LC @ 128 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/D1AE80B84C6DA3C/Snow_Falling_on_the_sea_(cold_hearted_sea)_1984-480p.mp4

Language(s):Japanese
SubtitlesNone

Many thanks to @Evan for this copy

The post Shin’ichi Nakada – Umi ni furu yuki AKA The Cold-Hearted Sea (1984) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Google translate:
A masterpiece of crime suspense where a seasoned prosecutor uncovers the perfect crime committed by a young lawyer. In addition to director Hiromichi Horikawa’s direction, you can also enjoy the skills of first-class filmmakers, such as the screenplay by Shinobu Hashimoto and the shadowy imagery of cinematographer Hiroshi Murai. Lawyer Hamano kills the wife of his former teacher who had an affair. After that, Wakita, a thief, was arrested, and after being pursued by prosecutor Ochiai, Wakita confessed to murdering her wife. Hamano gets involved with Ochiai, saying, “The real culprit must be someone else,” out of remorse.

Pressure.of.Guilt.1963.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.H.264-puk_gai.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 53 min
Size: 	3.44 GiB
Video
Codec: 	h264
Resolution: 	1920x816 
Aspect ratio:  	2.35:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	4 205 kb/s
BPP: 	0.112
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch AAC LC @ 125 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/DA6D27CC1C415BD/Pressure.of.Guilt.1963.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.H.264-puk_gai.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/A8E3C9CAC11261D/Shiro.to.Kuro.aka.Pressure.of.Guilt.1963.eng.01-53-31.BYjls001999.rev1.srt

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Hiromichi Horikawa – Shiro to kuro aka Pressure of Guilt (1963) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

An elderly woman living in Nagasaki, Japan takes care of her four grandchildren for their summer vacation. They learn about the atomic bomb that fell in 1945, and how it killed their grandfather.

Rhapsody.in.August.1991.DVDRIP.x264.AC3.KJNU.mkv

General
Container: Matroska
Runtime: 1 h 37 min
Size: 1.50 GiB
Video
Codec: x264
Resolution: 716x464 ~> 858x464
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Frame rate: 23.976 fps
Bit rate: 2 000 kb/s
BPP: 0.251
Audio
#1: Japanese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/029CDCED9BB7D2F/Rhapsody.in.August.1991.DVDRIP.x264.AC3.KJNU.mkv

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

The post Akira Kurosawa – Hachigatsu no rapusodî AKA Rhapsody in August (1991) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
How does a director whose work has long been characterized by its vibrancy deal with the subject of aging and death? With extraordinary patience and grace, it turns out. Madadayo is the last film Akira Kurosawa completed before his death in 1998, and it feels like the work of an artist aware that his time was nearing its end. (The fact that the 1993 film is only now receiving a video release in America after an extremely limited theatrical run doesn’t speak well of current attitudes toward elder greats.) The theme of aging recurs throughout Kurosawa’s later efforts, but never as explicitly as here; even the King Lear-based Ran has other concerns. But in Madadayo, Kurosawa directs his attention solely toward the life of a German-language professor (Tatsuo Matsumura) following his wartime retirement at age 60. Beloved by several generations of students, he becomes the subject of an annual birthday celebration. To inaugurate each, he consumes an oversized glass of beer and exclaims “Madadayo!”—the traditional response in a hide-and-seek-style children’s game—which translates as “not yet.” Matsumura’s ability to make the cry sound like both a triumphant denial of death and a gentle plea says much about the depth of his performance, and the film wouldn’t work without an actor of his subtlety. Jocular even when an American air raid destroys his house, he still makes his character’s later descent into melancholy believable. But Kurosawa’s personality is what dominates Madadayo, even if it’s in many respects one of his least characteristic films: As with one of Louis Armstrong’s autumnal solos, he says in one sustained note what once would have taken three. Madadayo’s carefully arranged tableaux at times seem more reminiscent of Yasujiro Ozu than Kurosawa, an appropriate and generous touch in a film concerned with paying tribute to past masters. That sense of meditative stillness carries over to the plot itself. Generally one of the most narrative-minded directors, Kurosawa here concentrates more intently on characters, lingering over his party scenes and dedicating a long stretch to a search for a lost cat and its impact on its participants. The latter sequence might be far removed from the climactic manhunt of High And Low, but it’s just as beautifully done, and with even higher emotional stakes. A coda both in its finality and in its deviation from its predecessors, Madadayo is a perfect close to the narrative of Kurosawa’s career, a fond, reluctant farewell to life itself. Keith Phipps@Onion AV Club

2.96GB | 2s 14m | 1024×552 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/776CB4B3B0F0BC4/Akira_Kurosawa_-_(1993)_Madadayo.mkv

Language:Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Akira Kurosawa & Ishirô Honda – Mâdadayo (1993) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

From All Movie Guide:
“Suicide has long been used as a form of social protest in Japan. In this film, set in 1703, samurai culture is being transformed by the emergence of a new merchant class. Elements of the social contract are beginning to unravel, and some unscrupulous people took undue advantage of these changes before the social order was re-created. In this story, a rich merchant gives his clerk an I.O.U. instead of wages. When the impoverished clerk presents the paper to the merchant at the agreed upon time asking for payment, the man flies into a rage and pretends he never wrote it and claims the clerk is trying to defraud him. Then he sets his henchmen on the clerk to administer a beating. Though similar in story and period, this is a different film from the 1969 Double Suicide by director Masahiro Shinoda.”

Meiko Kaji received the Kinema Jumpo Award (the Japanese Oscar) as best actress for her performance.

Sonezaki Shinju.1978.BDRip.AVC.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 52 min
Size: 	3.42 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	768x576 
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	4 151 kb/s
BPP: 	0.391
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/FA0847DDD88EDB9/Sonezaki_Shinju.1978.BDRip.AVC.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English, Russian

The post Yasuzo Masumura – Sonezaki Shinju AKA Double Suicide of Sonezaki (1978) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A landmark in Japanese cinema, The Far Road is the first feature film planned, produced, and directed as well as starred in by a woman, Sachiko Hidari. Inspired by her many years of work as an actress in the films of such illustrious directors as Heinosuke Gosho and Yasuzo Masumura (also represented in the current series), she uses a spare cinematic style to tell the story of a fight for human dignity: a living wage and job security in the face of mechanization of the railroads. The film was financed by the National Railways Workers Union, whose members, because they work for a “public corporation,” do not have the right to strike.
– BAMPFA (1979)

2.26GB | 1h 52m | 1920×1080 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/B3514CE7A885DE7/The.Far.Road.1977.1080i.HDTV.AAC.H264.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English,Japanese

The post Sachiko Hidari – The Far Road AKA Toi ippon no michi (1977) first appeared on Cinema of the World.