The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry “Ei ja nai ka” (“Why not?”) in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.
Category: Drama
Drama
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At the Beginning of the Game
A story about young football player Viktor Kruglov who is transferred from a small team to the on of the best teams in the country.
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Ban Geum-ryeon
Seo Mun-kyung, a merchant in ancient China where polygamy is legal, monopolizes the salt sales business. The magistrate of the province collapse families of Hwa Ja-heo and Hwang Mu-dae through Mun-kyung. When Ja-heo’s wife Byung-ah fakes her death and disappears with Ja-heo, Seo is angered. But when he sees Mu-dae’s wife Ban Geum-ryun, he is satisfied and this causes Mu-dae to end his own life. Geum-ryun makes Seo’s concubines Chun-ae and Kyo-ah lose their sight and she takes Byung-ah to Seo. When Byung-ah has Seo’s baby, antagonism and jealousy grows between the two women. Geum-ryun’s jealousy kills Byung-ah’s whole family and also kills Seo. Geum-ryun chooses to join her husband in death.
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Tik Tik Tik
A fashion photographer gets embroiled in a series of grisly murders.
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Flames of Blood
The story is set in Bakumatsu and revolves around the Bunta Sugawara character, a yakuza (of course 🙂 but instead of a modern yakuza/gangster, he’s a gambler/bakuto). After he kills someone and gets wound, is saved by a blind woman (Mitsuko Baishô), who took care of him. They has a happy time under the protection of the Tomisaburo Wakayama character, an oybun. But of course, happy time doesn’t last long. The story is also related to Okada Izo and the Shinsengumi (w/ Kondo Isami played by Makoto Sato)
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Kagero-za
A 1920s playwright meets a beautiful woman who may be the ghost of his patron’s deceased wife.
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A Dwarf Launches a Little Ball
A dwarf and his poor, but loving, family who are forced out of their house by a real estate agent.
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Ninja In The Deadly Trap
During the Ming Dynasty, as Japanese pirates wreak havoc along the Chinese coast, laying waste to entire towns, a band of ninjas start appearing and target the Chinese military commander, General Chi. The Master of the Three Arts (who possesses a book illustrating various ninja techniques) is the only one who can combat this new enemy, so he pledges that his students will join Chi’s army in their fight to wipe out the killers.
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Meschkas Enkel
Eight-year-old Christian lives with his grandparents after the death of his mother. When his grandmother falls ill, grandfather Meschka wants to take the boy to live with his aunt at the Baltic Sea. But Christian is against it. On the trip, the two develop a new relationship that changes everything.