| Japanese Outlaw Masters
There will be one screening in this series at the Aero Theatre (Sept. 16,
2005).
After taking a one-year hiatus from our "Japanese
Outlaw Masters Series," we’re are back again with a steel-edged vengeance! One
of the most gratifying results of this series, first started in 1997, is that many of the
films we’ve unearthed have gone on to be released theatrically and on DVD in the US,
and directors such as Kinji Fukasaku, Hideo Gosha, Kihachi Okamoto and others have finally
received their long-overdue recognition as true masters of Japanese cinema. We’re
doubly thrilled to celebrate the publication of series founder and Cinematheque programmer
Chris D.’s companion volume Outlaw Masters of
Japanese Film (available at all of the screenings), which features profiles and
interviews with many of these classic directors as well as modern masters such as Kiyoshi
Kurosawa and Takashi Miike, and genre icons Sonny Chiba and Meiko Kaji.
For this year’s film series we’re going back to the basics
-- samurai, yakuza and action classics from the 1960’s and early 1970’s --
including Hideo Gosha’s swordplay gems GOYOKIN and THE WOLVES; Kihachi
Okamoto’s tongue-in-cheek masterpieces, KILL! and AGE OF ASSASSINS; Kinji
Fukasaku’s ferocious crime film WOLVES, PIGS AND PEOPLE; and last, but not
least, Seijun Suzuki’s mind-altering BRANDED TO KILL. Plus, we’re
thrilled to present two impossibly rare and glorious chanbara treasures: Hideo
Gosha’s THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI and Masahiro Shinoda’s ASSASSINATION, both
long-unavailable in 35 mm. and screening here for the first time in decades!
This series is dedicated to the memory of director Kihachi
Okamoto, who passed away in February, 2005. Over the course of a long and brilliant
career, Okamoto exemplified the true spirit of outlaw filmmaking at its best, constantly
challenging and critiquing the status quo in films like AGE OF ASSASSINS, THE HUMAN BULLET
and DESPERADO OUTPOST, while creating stunning genre period masterpieces such as the
savage SWORD OF DOOM and KILL! We were honored to welcome Mr. Okamoto as our guest for the
very first "Outlaw Masters Series" in 1997 at the Cinematheque. He will be
sorely missed.
Cinematheque programmer and writer Chris D. will be
present at all screenings during the series for booksignings celebrating the release of
his new book Outlaw Masters Of Japanese Film-!!
Friday, September 9 – 7:30 PM
Hideo Gosha Double Feature:
New 35 mm. Print! THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI (SANBIKI NO SAMURAI) 1964, Janus
Films, 95 min. Director Hideo Gosha’s first feature film is not only one of
the most-assured directorial debuts ever, it is also something of a holy-grail for samurai
movie aficionados, as it’s been notoriously hard-to-see outside of Japan since its
initial release – until now. Our enormous thanks to Janus Films for striking a
glorious new 35 mm. print of this treasure in time for our series! Wandering samurai Tetsuro
Tanba is swayed into helping those who can’t fend for themselves, in this case
starving farmers who have kidnapped a local lord’s daughter in protest over unfair
taxes. In the process, much blood is shed, and two other swords-for-hire (Mikijiro Hira,
Isamu Nagato) become reluctant draftees into Tanba’s band of rebels. Gosha’s use
of the B&W Cinemascope frame is astonishing, with a down-to-earth, hardboiled ambience
rarely seen in early 1960s samurai pictures. Add to that Toshiaki Tsushima’s
atmospheric score and you have a certifiable classic. NOT ON
VIDEO!
GOYOKIN (aka OFFICIAL GOLD aka STEEL EDGE
OF REVENGE),1969, Toho, 121 min. Director Hideo Gosha’s samurai masterpiece is
an unrelenting vision of snow and fire, ravens screeching and swords flashing in the
darkness. Tatsuya Nakadai stars as a conscience-stricken samurai tortured by his
involvement in a past massacre and determined to prevent another. Gosha was forced to
reshoot half the film when original co-star Toshiro Mifune walked out (apparently because
of the fierce cold!) – and the cold in GOYOKIN is, in truth, all-consuming, freezing
hands to swords. A bold, beautifully-shot film. With Tetsuro Tanba, Ruriko Asaoka. NOT
ON VIDEO!
An Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!
Saturday, September 10 – 5:00 PM
New 35mm Print!!
KILL! (KIRU) 1968, Janus Films, 115 min. The
synchronicity of Italy’s spaghetti westerns with Japan’s samurai genre is
nowhere more evident than in this superb, action-packed gem from Kihachi Okamoto
(SWORD OF DOOM). Masaru Sato’s Morricone-inflected theme, the super-gritty sequences
in a dust-blown ghost town and the sparring of friendly rivals –
ex-samurai-turned-gambler Tatsuya Nakadai and wannabe swordsman Etsushi Takahashi
– meld together in an exhilarating brew, comparable in pure movie-watching enjoyment
to the best of Kurosawa and Sergio Leone. Nakadai’s loose comic performance is 180
degrees from his demonic turn in SWORD OF DOOM and testament to his spectacular
versatility as a performer. NOT ON VIDEO!
An Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!
Saturday, September 10 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
ASSASSINATION (ANSATSU),1964, Janus
Films, 104 min. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s (PALE FLOWER) samurai masterwork
is a desolate portrait of a respected swordsman (Tetsuro Tanba) fighting to restore
the emperor to power amidst the turmoil of the 1860’s, who suddenly becomes aware of
the absurdity of the struggle. Through a maze of flashbacks, we’re left to wonder
what has spurred his disillusion, convincing him to slyly manipulate the opposing
factions. Tanba’s cynicism leads his new shogunate allies to distrust him, and a
master swordsman is sent to take him by surprise. Cinematographer Masao Kosugi and
composer Toru Takemitsu (both veterans of PALE FLOWER) return to deliver their stark,
atonal purity to the proceedings. NOT ON VIDEO!
WOLVES, PIGS & PEOPLE
(OKAMI TO BUTA TO NINGEN) 1964, Toei, 95 min. One of director Kinji Fukasaku’s
(GRAVEYARD OF HONOR) first critically-acclaimed efforts is also one of the grittiest,
angriest yakuza thrillers ever made. Legendary tough guy Ken Takakura plays
a lone-wolf hood who convinces his younger sibling (Kinya Kitaoji) to recruit his youth
gang to help rob elder brother Rentaro Mikuni’s mob. Events spiral
out-of-control as filial ties crumble in noirishly downbeat fashion. Awe-inspiring, topped
off with Isao Tomita’s amazing hybrid score of lounge jazz, Coltrane-esque squawk and
distorted surf guitar. NOT ON VIDEO!
An Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!
Sunday, September 11 – 6:00 PM
Double Feature:
AGE OF ASSASSINS (SATSUJIN
KYOJIDAI), 1967, Toho, 99 min. Director Kihachi Okamoto’s (KILL!) sharp-edged,
action lampoon compares favorably with such other mod 1960s treasures as Elio Petri’s
THE 10TH VICTIM and Seijun Suzuki’s BRANDED TO KILL. Tatsuya
Nakadai, a glasses-wearing nebbish who is magically transformed into a suave secret
agent, is stuck with limited resources, including a smog-belching junkheap of an
automobile, as he does battle with a maniacal asylum director (Eisei Amamoto) dispatching
unhinged killers to bring Japan to its knees. NOT ON VIDEO!
BRANDED TO KILL (KOROSHI NO
RAKUIN), 1967, Janus Films, 91 min. Director Seijun Suzuki’s tour-de-force magnum
opus is a jawdropping, Pop Art deconstruction of not only gangster films but, more
specifically, Nikkatsu Studio’s own hitman subgenre.
Excessive violence as well as dreamlike surrealism envelops an assassin (Joe Shishido)
known as Number Three Killer after he botches a job, and both his mercenary wife (Mariko
Ogawa) and a stoic hitwoman (Annu Mari) start trying to kill him. When Number One Killer
(Koji Nanbara) steps in, the mind games escalate to a terrifyingly absurd level.
An Egyptian Theatre Exclusive! |
