A manhunt in a period film: Hideo Gosha’s Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron
The recent discovery of Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron (Kumokiri Nizaemon, 1978), a film that I had never seen before, has…
Recent Posts
A family in crisis: Masahiro Kobayashi’s Lear on the Shore
A beach at the seaside is the main location in Masahiro Kobayashi’s Lear on the Shore (Umibe no Ria, 2017)…
Self-Isolation Soundtrack: The Music of Seven Samurai
Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai, 1954) is one of those rich and complex films that one never tires of watching…
The beauty of free movement: Akira Kurosawa’s Uma no uta
In his autobiography, Something Like an Autobiography, Akira Kurosawa mentions that since his youth he had loved horses and had…
Fighting Social Ills: Akira Kurosawa’s Red Beard
In Akira Kurosawa’s Red Beard (Akahige, 1965), Dr. Niide (Toshiro Mifune), called “Red Beard”, offers medical treatment cheaply or for…
What remains of the Samurai? – Seven Samurai and 13 Assassins
When I was informed about this month’s “double feature” topic, I spontaneously decided to write about Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai…
Visual Poetry: Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood
Inspired by William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Akira Kurosawa created, with Throne of Blood (Kumonosu-jo, Japan, 1957), visual poetry: in black and…
Toshiro Mifune – Intense acting and inventive spirit
When I began working on Akira Kurosawa, the pivotal role for his cinema of Toshiro Mifune (b. 1 April 1920…
The taste of humanity: Tampopo
At the core of Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (1985) is the ambition of the central character, Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), to produce…
