A group of old men take over an empty house and proclaim it to be a new “country” they have founded, called Yama. (“Yamato” is one of the oldest names for Japan, “yama” itself means “mountain.”) The men basically refuse to be thrown out of this domicile by some gangsters, and they are successful for several months. Their resistance started on December 8th, the date Pearl Harbor was bombed (not the 7th because one crosses the International Date Line and gains a day while heading west from the U.S.) and lasts until August 15th, the date when Japan officially surrendered at the end of World War II.

Chikagoro Naze Ka Charusuton.1981.576p.BDRip-AVC.ZONE.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 56 min
Size: 	2.22 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	768x576 
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	2 500 kb/s
BPP: 	0.236
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 224 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/20ABA4F371C9BFE/Chikagoro_Naze_Ka_Charusuton.1981.576p.BDRip-AVC.ZONE.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Kihachi Okamoto – Chikagoro naze ka Charusuton aka At This Late Date The Charleston (1981) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Four Black American slaves, freed in Civil War, make their way to California and set sail for Africa, only to land in feudal Japan. They are held prisoner of the emperor, who also has a passion for music. The prisoners get out their own instruments and bring Dixieland Jazz to Japan.

	
Jazz.Daimyo.1986.1080p.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-002.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 24 min
Size: 	8.91 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1920x1040 
Aspect ratio:  	1.85:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	15.0 Mb/s
BPP: 	0.313
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch E-AC-3 @ 224 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/D0B6300876A651B/Jazz.Daimyo.1986.1080p.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-002.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/34C23BDEA8F9A92/Jazz.Daimyo.1986.1080p.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264.srt

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

Many thanks to @Bjarne for this copy

The post Kihachi Okamoto – Jazz Daimyo (1986) (HD) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
A Nutshell Review: Dixieland Daimyo, 26 October 2006
Author: DICK STEEL from Singapore

My initial reaction was, this sure is one strange movie. Set in the late 19th century and after the end of the American Civil War, three slaves decided to make their way back to Africa, but en route, found themselves on the shores of Japan after a shipwreck. From then on, it’s a weird mix of Japanese shogun intrigue and jazz music fused into a somewhat nonsensical end.

The introduction needed a little getting used to, since the Americans were clearly speaking in English, but had their speech dubbed over with voices speaking Japanese. Subtitles and intertitles became Japanese at certain points of the story, although English subtitles were used when they had their voices dubbed. So it’s listening to two concurrent language tracks, and reading the English subtitles.

The storyline and its characters were peculiar as well. Essentially, it’s about the chancing upon a group of gaijins who bring along their musical instruments and talent for jazz (well, actually not quite. They only know one song, and it’s played ad nausem after plenty of practice), and sharing their passion for music with the native Japanese. And it all turned out to be one huge STOMP-like ensemble performance and a trance like rave party, which seemed pretty out of place given the development of the storyline.

Actually, what storyline? The “intrigue in the palace” styled story isn’t inspiring, and for most parts it just bores. There are some characters which had potential to be something more, like the martial arts skilled princess, but given its runtime of less than 90 minutes, it’s already hard pressed to get any more character development.

So that leaves the finale, which looks like an extended music video. But what I thought was interesting, was the way how the portrayal of “leaving society” was handled, with the jazz performance, and the depiction of turmoil and inevitable changes happening above their performing grounds. There were murmurings around me about how absurd it all is, but I thought it was quite neatly done, and brought its own message across in a very non- conventional way.

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 24mn
Size: 	3.59 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	720x480 
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	5 700 kb/s
BPP: 	0.688
Audio
#1:  	2.0ch AC-3 @ 384 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/407740C655DEA24/Jazz_Daimyo_(1986).mkv
https://nitro.download/view/EB67BC1965AADFD/Jazz_Daimyo_(1986).srt

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

Many thanks to @Bjarne for this copy

The post Kihachi Okamoto – Jazz Daimyo (1986) first appeared on Cinema of the World.