Japan-uary XV Quick Picks and Pans

 

The Red Angel (1966) Set during the second Sino-Japanese War in 1939, The Red Angel follows Sakura (Ayako Wakao), a young Japanese army nurse stationed in China. The soldiers who end up in the military hospital are regarded as nothing but expendable components of the machinery of war, while nurses are told to look the other way and not become attached to the sick and dying. In spite of everything, she does her best to keep the injured troops happy before they die or return to the front lines. Ultimately, she falls in love with a disillusioned, morphine-addicted doctor (Shinsuke Ashida), who spends most of his time deciding who lives and who dies. While Yasuzō Masumura’s bleak, unflinching film isn’t an easy watch, it’s superbly acted, and its theme of retaining one’s humanity in the most inhumane of circumstances resonates just as strongly today. 

Rating: ****. Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Kanopy

Tokyo Chorus (1931) When salaryman Shinji Okajima (Tokihiko Okada) stands up for a fired co-worker, he’s let go as well. Thus begins his search for a new job in a time when work is scarce. Contending with various financial setbacks (including a sick daughter and a son who wants a new bike), he struggles to keep his chin up. Shinji finds renewed purpose when he has a chance encounter with an old college professor, forcing him to reassess what’s most important. This early silent film by Yasujirô Ozu hits all the right notes, with moments of drama tempered by gentle humor - a bittersweet, albeit life-affirming portrait of family life in pre-war Japan. 

Rating: ****. Available on DVD (Included in Eclipse Series 10: Silent Ozu - Three Family Comedies)

Daimajin (1966) The first in a trilogy by Daiei (followed by Return of Daimajin and Wrath of Daimajin), set in ancient Japan, is a bit of an anomaly in the world of kaiju that somehow got lost in the shuffle over the years. A benevolent feudal lord is murdered by an outsider who covets his position. When the new despot takes over, enslaving the villagers, he endeavors to wipe out any remaining heirs to the former leader. Still loyal to the Hanabusa clan, Kogenta (Jun Fujimaki) takes the surviving son and daughter (Tadafumi and Kozasa) for refuge in an enchanted mountain nearby. Ten years later, they’re back to recapture the village, with the help of a giant statue/god, Daimajin. The movie takes a while to get going, but it’s worth the wait for the ensuing kaiju mayhem. The Daimajin itself is a sight to behold, with its stern face and all-too-human eyes, making it a unique and terrifying creation. 

Rating: ***½. Available on Blu-ray (The Daimajin Trilogy Arrow box set) 

Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands (1967) Don’t let the lurid title (the eponymous doll only has a cameo) mislead you. Writer/director Atsushi Yamatoya’s surreal neo noir about Shô, a hitman (Yûichi Minato) seeking revenge against those who murdered his girlfriend, is full of surprises. This unconventional film switches between reality and fantasy, depicting the hitman’s imagined revenge, versus the reality of the situation. Minato does a great job as the diminutive and unassuming cold-blooded killer Shô, who’s no better than his nemesis, Kô (Shôhei Yamamoto).   

Rating: ***½. Available on Blu-ray and Kanopy

Undertaker (2012) Writer/director Naoyoshi Kawamatsu’s low-budget, shot-on-video flick is set in an unspecified number of years after a zombie outbreak has devastated Japan. Ryouichi (Yoshito Kobashigawa) performs a service for family members grieving over their loved ones who have turned into zombies. He hunts down and dispatches the infected, so the families can experience a modicum of closure. His latest clients are parents whose grown daughter has succumbed to the zombie-creating virus. Undertaker makes the most of its brief running time, with animated butterflies representing the souls of those who have passed on (I think), and some appropriately gruesome practical effects. 

Rating ***. Available on Blu-ray and DVD

A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse (1975) In 1958 when brothels were officially outlawed in Japan, sex workers resorted to a workaround, the so-called Turkish bathhouse. One such worker, Yukino (Naomi Tani), is eager to leave her former life behind, with the promise of marriage to her boyfriend, Yûzô (Hideo Murota). Unfortunately for Yukino, her fiancé owes a large sum of money to a group of gangsters, forcing her to return to her previous profession. To add insult to injury, Yûzô’s not who he seems to be, running with criminals and scheming with the bathhouse madame. When deception turns to murder, Yukino’s younger sister, Mayumi (Misa Ohara) seeks revenge with the help of a cat demon. This (very) loose re-telling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” told through a traditional bakeneko mono (monster cat) lens features an entertaining mix of sex and violence with a supernatural twist. It’s probably not to everyone’s taste, but I’ll leave that to you to decide. 

Rating: ***. Available on Blu-ray

The Box Man (2024) A reclusive man known only as “Myself” (Masatoshi Nagase) experiences the world from the perspective of his cardboard box. He photographs the people who pass by, logging notes and observing, but never interacting. He’s under surveillance by a doctor (Tadanobu Asano) who’s not really a doctor, and is assisted by a nurse (Ayana Shiramoto) who’s not really a nurse. As we eventually discover, whoever obsesses about the Box Man becomes the Box Man. The film might have worked better if it had been more succinct (it’s probably 30 minutes too long for its own good), starting off on a promising note, but becoming more muddled as it ambles on. 

Rating: **½. Available on Prime Video and Midnight Pulp

Short Take: The Bride from Hades

(1968) Directed by Satsuo Yamamoto; Written by Yoshikata Yoda and Enchô San'yûtei; Starring: Kôjirô Hongô, Miyoko Akaza, Kô Nishimura, Mayumi Ogawa, Takashi Shimura, and Michiko Ôtsuka; Available on Blu-ray (included in Daiei Gothic, Volume 1) and DVD

Rating: ****

“I’m being asked to do something immoral, so my family will prosper. If I refuse, they will disown me. Your father was cast out by a capricious lord. Why must we yield to their inhumanity? Abusing their power to get their own way like my father and that lord, I’ve lost all respect for the samurai…” – Shinzaburô Hagiwara (Kôjirô Hongô)

Love, at times, is a fickle, unfathomable beast that can just as surely lead one to contentment as it can end in ruin. According to Emily Dickinson, “The heart wants what it wants, or else it does not care.” Who or why we love reminds us that affairs of the heart have no mathematical formula or logic. The Bride from Hades, a classic tale of love gone awry, was based on the popular 17^th-century Yurei (ghost) story “Botan-dôrô” (or “The Tale of the Peony Lantern”),  

In the opening scene, set on the eve of the Obon Festival (a celebration of the spirits of the beloved who have passed on), Shinzaburô Hagiwara (Kôjirô Hongô) sits with the surviving members of his family of samurai. A year after the death of his older brother, Shinzaburô is offered his deceased brother’s wife. Despite Shinzaburô’s obligation to accept her hand in marriage, he refuses, much to the dismay of his family. That evening, during the village’s celebration, he and the villagers release dozens of floating lanterns in the local pond. When he frees two lanterns that were stuck in the weeds, two women, Otsuyu (Miyoko Akaza) and her servant Oyone (Michiko Ôtsuka), express their appreciation for his kind gesture. We soon learn that Otsuyu, once was a member of a samurai clan, but forced into a life as a concubine. She only has a few days of freedom, during the remaining course of the festival, before she must marry an older man she doesn’t love. Touched by her emotional appeal. Shinzaburô takes pity upon Otsuyu, but all is not as it seems. He soon discovers that both women met an untimely death, presenting him with a difficult decision: choosing between his commitment to the betterment of the village, which will only hasten his estrangement to his family, or his new love for Otsuyu, which means certain death. The villagers rally for his protection, but will it be too late? 

* Fun Fact #1: Although he made a name for himself in Daiei costume dramas, Hongô never aspired to be an actor, preferring the practice of judo.

Kôjirô Hongô does a terrific job as the conflicted young samurai Shinzaburô, who only wants justice in a society that rewards the wealthy and punishes the downtrodden. Unlike the rest of his family, Shinzaburô prefers to live among the poor craftsmen in the village, teaching their children how to read (this is frowned upon by the rest of his family, who think he shouldn’t concern himself with the affairs of people beneath his station). His patience and sympathy is constantly tested by his ne’er-do-well servant, Banzô (Kô Nishimura), who enjoys women and drink more than being a productive member of the community. Nishimura,* who made a career playing characters of questionable morality, provides some much-needed levity to the otherwise somber story as Banzô. Along with his equally scheming wife, Omine (Mayumi Ogawa), Banzô conspires to betray his master for 100 Ryo – his price for helping the ghostly Otsuyu and Oyone gain entry to Shinzaburô’s home, blocked by paper talismans.**   

* Fun Fact #2: Nishimura’s father Makoto was an early pioneer in Japanese robotics, having created an early example, Gakutensoku, in the 1920s. 

** Fun Fact #3: The talismans, known as ofuda, are consecrated slips of paper from Shinto shrines, used to ward off evil spirits or prevent harm.

While The Bride from Hades wasn’t typical fare for the politically charged director Satsuo Yamamoto, the film’s themes of social inequity in a society dictated by rigid class structure shines through. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Chikashi Makiura, with dreamlike art direction by Yoshinobu Nishioka, the film is a delight for the eyes. The story, based on a classic Japanese folk tale, proves the time-worn adage that no good deed goes unpunished (at least in Shinzaburô’s case), and neither the virtuous nor the unscrupulous prevail.

 

Sources for this article: Blu-ray commentary by Jasper Sharp; Yurei Attack: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide, by Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt