A 1920s playwright meets a beautiful woman who may be the ghost of his patron’s deceased wife.

Ian Johnston, Not Coming to a Theater Near You wrote:
Zigeunerweisen, the first film in Seijun Suzuki’s Taisho trilogy, proved something of a surprise success in Japan, both commercially (this was very definitely unplanned) and critically—it took the Japanese Academy Awards for best picture, director, and supporting actress, and the prestigious Kinema Jumpo awards for best director, film, screenplay, actress, and supporting actress. So, Suzuki teamed up again with producer Genjiro Arato to double the budget for the follow-up Kagero-za.

Again, the setting is the 1920s Japan of the Taisho area, and again a literary work is the source for the screenplay. In this case, the basis is a short story by Kyoka Izumi, a writer most famous now for his idiosyncratic Gothic-flavoured ghost stories, published in the main in the early years of the twentieth century. From this has been fashioned a screenplay which rather resists any attempt at a synopsis—or is it Suzuki’s treatment that deliberately muddies the waters of character and narrative consistency?

The protagonist is playwright Matsuzaki, who one day encounters a mysterious woman, Shinako, on her way to a hospital. This appears to be the (late?) wife of his wealthy patron Tamawaki, and Matsuzaki becomes obsessed with Shinako, pursuing her out of Tokyo into rural Kanazawa, where he is drawn into a love-suicide pact encouraged if not orchestrated by the shotgun-toting Tamawaki. The story is further complicated by the way Matsuzaki’s obsession shifts between Shinako and the blue-eyed, blonde-haired Ine, apparently Tamawaki’s first (also deceased?) wife, and the story reaches its climax — if no great clarification — via a bizarre ceremony whereby dolls are draped in white cloths and hidden sexual organs are viewed and then via a lengthy sequence in a kabuki theatre where performers and audience are all children.

Even this synopsis makes the narrative connections clearer than they actually are. Shinako remains unnamed for almost the first half of the film, as is her identity as Tamawaki’s wife, if Tamawaki’s wife and the “bladder cherry lady” are the same—as they seem to be, except that Matsuzaki tells Tamawaki that Shinako reminds him of a beautiful lady he met long ago: is this the lady from the encounter at the beginning of the film?

So, the details of the story and the precise status of the characters are consistently unclear (as Matsusaki himself is when narrating parts of the story to Tamawaki), which is the point of a film deliberately aiming to replicate a dream-state. This feeling is established right from the start with the film’s second shot (Matsuzaki’s meeting with Shinako), where Shinako is presented frontally, still and facing the audience, standing in the centre of a flight of stone steps. There’s an unreal quality accentuated by the contrast between her pale skin, her light-coloured clothing and the basket of white flowers she is carrying as opposed to the dark greens of the surroundings and Matsuzaki’s dark clothes; and the contrast between her stillness and Matsuzaki’s constant movement. (Although the case on Kino’s DVD claims a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, as with Zigeunerweisen it’s actually full frame, which judging from the composition of this shot, as with the film generally, seems right.)

This is the scene where Shinako asks Matsuzaki to accompany her to the hospital, out of fear of a bladder cherry (whatever they may be!) vendor on the way there. Matsuzaki refuses; but the next sequence shows Matsuzaki at the hospital in conversation with her. We assume he has come looking for her, but in keeping with Suzuki’s general approach neither the connections between sequences nor a character’s motivation are made clear. Furthermore, the construction of the sequence, that is, the matching of one shot to the next, is equally oblique. Consider this series:

A low-angle shot of Matsuzaki searching, interrupted by a strange squelching sound.

A medium-shot from the rear of Shinako turning slightly and sitting down.

A long-shot, a 180°-match on the previous shot, of Shinako facing us in middle distance (the centre of the frame) with Matzusaki looking on from the right.

A medium close-up of Shinako, shot from the side but not from Matsuzaki’s point-of-view.

And so on.

The sum effect is quite disconcerting. Spatial relationships seem awry, or disturbed by such devices as cutting within a conversation from, say, a medium shot to an extreme long shot, both filmed from the same angle. Figures will be placed at the edge of the frame to emphasise the sense of being off-centre, or arrayed flatly in a formal and unrealistic line across the frame. All in all, there’s a fascinating willful aestheticism at play here, but one which works to underpin the dream logic of Kagero-za’s narrative. There are frequent unexplained abrupt shifts from one scene to the next; for example, we see Matzusaki in the alley outside the inn stop, the lighting suddenly brightens unnaturally, and he turns in a circle to the sound of festival drums, at which point there is sudden cut to him standing in a country road with the anarchist, who in fact taps him as if to wake him from one dream state to the next. Or alternatively, a scene never develops, but is simply replaced by a new one.

One brief moment sums up the spirit of the whole film: Tamawaki leaves the kabuki theatre, stands in the alley facing us, his shotgun over one shoulder, and states, “Who talks of realism here?” while laughing gleefully. The bizarre juxtapositions, the lack of narrative consistency, the startling visual tropes are all both the strength and the weakness of Kagero-za. It’s invigorating to allow oneself to be seduced by the flow of images, to give up trying to make logical, intellectual sense of things. But the process ends up being so long drawn-out and frustrating of any true emotional/intellectual investment in the film, that when we finally learn of Tamawaki and Shinako’s double suicide, we’re pretty much unmoved. Matsuzaki may end the film with his declaration that “since I saw my lover in a dream, I have depended on dreams”, but our feeling is more likely to be that in Kagero-za Suzuki himself has depended too much on them.

Kagero-za (1981) BDRIP 4K Restoration 1080p x264 FLAC KJNU.mkv

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Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Seijun Suzuki – Kagero-za AKA Heat-Haze Theatre (1981) (HD) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Gimme gimme gimme! Yusaku Matsuda and his gang are on the hunt for women, money and more money! The late legendary actor, Yusaku Matsuda, stars in this explosive motion picture about the hedonistic lifestyles of four roughnecks directed by Yukihiro Sawada. Takeo Natsuki (Yusaku Matsuda) was just released from prison. He was the leader of three rascals; all they did was cause trouble. When they meet a girl whose father is resisting a forced eviction to make way for a construction site, they come up with their own plans to solve the problem.

Yukihiro Sawada - Abayo dachiko AKA The Four Roughnecks (1974).mkv

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Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 33 min
Size: 	1.33 GiB
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Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	712x354 ~> 849x354
Aspect ratio:  	2.40:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	1 800 kb/s
BPP: 	0.298
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 224 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/DE83DF28BEDFDC6/Yukihiro_Sawada_-_Abayo_dachiko_AKA_The_Four_Roughnecks_(1974).mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Yukihiro Sawada – Abayo dachikô AKA The Four Roughnecks (1974) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police Detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York City. There he is joined by Detective Shuftan, and together they sort out the crime.

Proof of the Man.1977.576p.BDRip-AVC.ZONE.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	2 h 12 min
Size: 	3.28 GiB
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Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x554 
Aspect ratio:  	1.85:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	3 000 kb/s
BPP: 	0.221
Audio
#1:  	Japanese 2.0ch FLAC @ 494 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/843761FFC03EB2E/Proof_of_the_Man.1977.576p.BDRip-AVC.ZONE.mkv

Language(s):Japanese, English
Subtitles:English (for Japanese parts)

The post Jun’ya Satô – Ningen no shômei AKA Proof of the Man (1977) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A cowardly samurai is sent as an official executioner targeting the clan’s former sword instructor, a man whose sword and spear skills are second to none.

692MB | 1h 21m | 656×480 | avi

https://nitro.download/view/3989CFDF6550D16/Hitogoroshi_(1976).avi

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:None

The post Hitoshi Obuchi – Hitogoroshi Aka Murderer (1976) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A plot to steal money from gangsters leads to trouble.

2.95GB | 1h 31m | 1904×804 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/C122FA7C4768C51/No.Grave.for.Us.1979.WEB-DL.1080p.AAC.H264.mkv

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Yukihiro Sawada – Oretachi ni haka wa nai AKA No Grave for Us (1979) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

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Hitman Narumi is asked to rescue a kidnapped businessman who is involved in an air defense project. Narumi nearly succeeds but a stray shot kills the hostage. Nevertheless the person who hired Narumi now has another mission for him.

1.69GB | 1 h 29 min | 1024×438 | avi

https://nitroflare.com/view/14B2FEC7D1275AF/The_Most_Dangerous_Game_%28576p%29.mkv

Language:Japanese
Subtitles:English

The post Tôru Murakawa – Mottomo kiken na yuugi AKA The Most Dangerous Game (1978) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

This erotic and violent story taken from Emily Bronte’s classic novel, and Georges Bataille’s analyzes, takes place in medieval Japan instead of 19th-century Yorkshire. Onimaru (Yasaku Matsuda) is an orphan boy taken in by a group of priests who worship the Mountain Of Fire and try to appease the gods of anger. He loves Kinu (Yuko Tanaka), the beautiful daughter of a local family. When she marries an heir to a rival family, his heart is broken. When she dies in childbirth, Onimaru loses what is left of his mind.

1.90GB | 2h 6mn | 1013×548 | mkv

https://nitroflare.com/view/BFD9E77B0490461/Wuthering_Heights_PAL_DVD_DD2.0_x264-RR.part1.rar
https://nitroflare.com/view/D3A159AB14EF594/Wuthering_Heights_PAL_DVD_DD2.0_x264-RR.part2.rar

Language(s):Japanese
Subtitles:English srt

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