Ryôji Hayama

A jazz bandleader, falsely accused of murdering his girlfriend, tries to stay one step ahead of the police as he dives into Tokyo’s sin-city in search of the real killer in this dark and beautiful noir from master Seijun Suzuki.Read More »

A woman who grew up in a prestigious household, begins to have an affair outside the marriage. Based on a Yukio Mishima novel.Read More »

PLOT: Fumiko, mother of two children and wife of an unfaithful man who shows a low self esteem, shares her family life with her budding vocation as a poetess. The beginning of her successful literary career coincides with her divorce and the development of a serious illness: a breast cancer, which leads her to lose her breasts. In the last stage of her life she meets a young journalist arrived from Tokyo, an admirer of her work, who wants to write a story on her life.Read More »

Nikkatsu finally responds to Suzuki’s growing discontentment by giving him a bigger budget and a better script. This episodic collection of “real coast guard action stories” was the perfect vehicle for Koji Wada. Whatever negative press he had received for Tokyo Knights was quickly forgotten.

He became the new “teen star.” And Suzuki: “the director to watch.”Read More »

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The story deals with a trombone player, Ibuki, who’s taking a “working” honeymoon with his wife. While they travel via train to the next gig, his wife disappears. Thinking she left him, Ibuki drowns his sorrow in beer. Depressed, he returns home to find her dead body. The police immediately suspect him, but he escapes and goes into the underground to find the real killer.Read More »

Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow. Reiko meets her husband’s business rival, a young, capable businessman, and falls for him. Meanwhile, Mayumi enters into a relationship with Shimotsuma, a friend of her late husband.Read More »

An unofficial sequel to Million Dollar Match (1961) which also starred Koji Wada as a young energetic boxer. This story deals more with betting action surrounding a boxing match, concentrating mostly on the high-powered Yakuza gambling dens.

Once again, Suzuki was reprimanded by his Nikkatsu boss, Kyusaku Hori, for refusing to deliver a simple, straightforward story. The scolding centers on Suzuki’s “extensive use of symbolism in a traditional action picture.”Read More »