Amakusa Shiro Tokisada / Shiro Amakusa: The Christian Rebel

天草四郎時貞 / [Shiro Amakusa: kristitty kapinallinen] / [Shiro Amakusa: den kristna rebellen]. JP 1962. PC: Toei. EX: Yasutaro Kon. P: Hiroshi Okawa. D: Nagisa Oshima. SC: Nagisa Oshima, Toshira Ishido. DP: Shintaro Kawasaki ‒ b&w ‒ Shochiku Grandscope 2,35:1. M: Riichiro Manabe. ED: Shintaro Miyamoto.
    CAST: Hashizo Okawa (Amakusa Shiro Tokisada), Satomi Oka (Sakura), Ryutaro Otomo (Shinbei Oka), Rentaro Mikuni (Uemonsaku), Sayuri Tachikawa, Takamaru Sasaki, Choichiro Kawarazaki, Takao Yoshizawa, Kei Sato, Mutsuhiro Toura. 100 min.
    A Kawakita Memorial print with English subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 26 Aug 2009.

Another surprise from the young Nagisa Oshima: a full-blooded jidai-geki, with grand, tragic action, and reversing samurai expectations with a novel aspect: Christianity, which takes (or should take) literally Jesus' word of turning the other cheek.

In 1637, peasants are bitterly oppressed by the landlord, and the oppression is enforced by the cruel samurai. The sadism of the oppressors with their torture chambers is underlined. Women are fair game for the landlord, too. The debates among the Christian peasants are thrilling. But finally they are driven to such despair that they start to rebel against impossible odds. 37.000 Christian believers died in action led by Shiro of Amakusa.

The visual concept is bold (DP: Shintaro Kawasaki): the picture starts in the dark, and much of the action takes place at night. The takes are often static but intensive. Then there are huge, expressive close-ups. In the action scenes the scope frame is brilliantly put into use.

The music by Riichiro Manabe is original and effective: muted but compelling, portentous without over-emphasis, relying on the power of the image, his sound is unique and memorable.

A film of tragic grandeur.

The print is watchable but with a duped look, deep black often missing. The image gets better towards the end.

Shiiku / The Catch

Nagisa Oshima: Shiiku / The Catch (US 1961) with Hugh Hurd (Black Soldier).

JP 1961. PC: Palace Film. P: Saburo Tajima, Masayuki Nakajima. 

    D: Nagisa Oshima. SC: Tsutomu Tamura, Toshio Matsuma, Toshiro Ishido, Shomei Tomatsu – based on the short story (1957) by Kenzaburo Oe. DP: Yoshitsugu Tonegawa - b&w - scope 2,35:1. AD: Itsuro Hirata. M: Riichiro Manabe. ED: Miyuri Miyamori. 

    CAST: Hugh Hard (the black U.S. war prisoner), Rentaro Mikuni (Kazumasa Takano), Sadako Sawamura (Katsu), Eiko Oshima (Mikiko), Masako Nakamura (Hisako), Kyu Sazanka (Denmatsu Tsukada), Teruko Kishi (Masu), Yoko Mihara (Sachiko), Shigeyuki Makie (Osamu), Masaomi Kyosu (Takashi), Yoshi Kato (Yoichi Kokubo), Toshiro Ishido (Jiro), Toshio Irizumi (Hashiro), Ton Shimada (Kadoya), Meiji Kurosaka (Haruo), Tsune Imahashi (poacher), Toshio Kokota (Tadao), Hoichi Takeda (Jisaku), Akiko Koyama (Hiroko Ishii), Kyoko Uehara (Yurie), Itsuko Uehara (Momoko), Toura Mutsuhiro (village official), Hosei Komatsu (village policeman). 

    104 min

    Print: a new print from Kawakita Memorial with English subtitles.

    Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 25 Aug 2009.

Unfortunately the image is soft in this otherwise immaculate print (the subtitles are sharp, the image is soft, and at ca 65 min the image has low contrast).

A complete change for Oshima: a war period drama based on Kenzaburo Oe, the future Nobel prize winner. This is a compact study of the wartime psychodynamics of a remote village, where a wounded black US air force soldier is taken as prisoner just before the end of the war. The whole spectrum of reactions is evident: tenderness, sympathy, courtesy, indifference, bullying, bigotry, sadism. There are decent people, cruel manipulators, a lecherous rich and influential boss, a village fool lady, children, and old people. The black catch is a catalyst to a whole gamut of reactions.

The takes are long, there is a tendency to real duration. Therefore the film gets somewhat flegmatic, and it is at times difficult to keep the attention. The film is somewhat loose, rambling and extends a compact subject a bit too much.

The black man becomes a scapegoat for everything.  Some would like to have him escape into the mountains. But the cruel boss shoots him. - This is an account of cowardice. - The picture is overlong, but there are interesting solutions in cinematography and music.

Taiyo no hakaba

The Sun's Burial / [Auringon hautajaiset] / [Solens begravning]. JP 1960. PC: Shochiku. D: Nagisa Oshima. SC: Nagisa Oshima, Toshiro Ishido. DP: Takashi Kawamata - Eastmancolor - Shochiku Grandcope 2,35:1. DP: Koji Uno. M: Riichiro Manabe. ED: Keiichi Uraoka. CAST: Kayoko Hondo (Hanako), Junaburo Ban (Yosematsu, Hanako's father), Fumio Watanabe (Yosehei), Kamatari Fujiwara (Batasuke, the ragman), Tanie Kitabayashi (Chika, Batasuke's wife), Eitaro Ozawa (The Agitator). English subtitles. Print: Japan Foundation. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 20 Aug 2009. - Brilliant print. - Oshima's grim vision, the counter-image of Japan's economic miracle, the slum with its human misery, organized robbery, even murder, illegal blood banks, trading identities, rags, guns, women's flesh. - The cruelty of the crimes is accompanied by gentle guitar music. - The colour scheme is bold, dominated by red. - Crueller than Miracolo a Milano and Dodeskaden, crueller than even Los olvidados. - Hanako, the woman without soul, love and conscience, is the most shocking figure in the film.