ACF 1187: The Woman with Red Hair

Junko Miyashita (left) and Renji Ishibashi

 The Woman with Red Hair / Akai kami no onna

Directed by Tatssumi Kumashiro

Japan, 1979, 73 minutes

Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial, a NY Film Festival Masterworks series of 37 films from Japan's oldest studio continues through this Sunday, October 16th. The Woman with Red Hair will play tomorrow, Friday, October 14th  at 9:00 pm (tickets here) and on Sunday evening at 6:20 pm (tickets here).

Synopsis: Seventies icon Junko Miyashita plays a redheaded woman who is picked up by the side of the road by Kozo (Renji Ishibashi), a driver for a construction company, in this dark, celebrated erotic drama. Dubbed “one of the very best Nikkatsu pink films,” The Woman with Red Hair becomes a marathon session of obsessive desire and unsatisfied dreams, acted out in a down-and-out working-class milieu. One of the best works by a major director in the genre.

ACF Review: The quote cited above is from Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films by Thomas Weisser, my former editor/publisher at Asian Cult Cinema magazine, and Yuko Mihara Weisser, his wife. Jasper Sharp also has a positive take on it in his book Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. (Both are very fine books, by the way.)

I wasn't that impressed after watching the film at a press screening before the NY Film Festival began. While the Weissers are probably correct in their assessment, being the best of Nikkatsu's Roman Porn (for "Romantic Pornography") isn't really the highest praise for a film in general.

I'll grant you that the film has a good bit more of a story to it than most films of its ilk (at least those at that time). There are a few nice comic touches, such as when Kozo wakes up in his bed, senses something amiss, and lifts the covers to reveal "The Woman" asleep between his legs with her head nestled in his crotch! And occasionally there's a striking cinematic composition, such as an overhead shot of the couple walking along a pier.

For me there was just too much sex shenanigans. Don't get me wrong: I'm no prude, far from it. It wasn't for nothing that my column in Asian Cult Cinema was named (by T. Weisser, himself) Trash Taken Seriously: Scholarly Reviews of Exploitation, Guilty Pleasures & Junk. But there wasn't enough going on aside from the sex to interest me, and let's face it, simulated sex can get old after awhile, at least when you're watching it in public.

When the film had ended, and paraphrasing the title of Nagisa Oshima's most notorious film, I retitled it "In the Realm of the Boring." (I'll admit that this initial reaction was a good bit on the harsh side.) Discussing this in the lobby with Charles Meyer, contributing editor at Cinespect.com, he retorted with "In the Realm of the Senseless," though to be honest he did have a higher regard for The Woman with Red Hair than I did.

Bottom line? The Woman with Red Hair is not a great film, but it's definitely one of the best in its genre, certainly for its time. And it does hold an important place in the history of pinku eiga (pink films). ACF Rating: 3 out of 4 stars, a decent enough film that's surely worth seeing.

ACF 1175: JIRAIYA THE NINJA

Jiraiya The Ninja

Jiraiya The Ninja (1921) is the earliest film shown at Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial, the incredible 37 film series playing at NY's Lincoln Center through Sunday, October 16th. Jiraiya was directed by Shozo Makino, known as the "father of Japanese cinema," and only a fragment just over twenty minutes is available. That segment was shown this past Sunday along with Made To Order Cloth, Daisuke Ito's 1930 depiction of Edo-era thief and folk hero Jirokichi Nakamura.

I watched Jiraiya on a DVD screener. There were only a few intertitle cards, and these were not subtitled. So it was rather difficult to know just exactly what was going on. Still, I could tell that at one point Jiraiya rescued someone, and at another he exposed a lord's vassal. And of course, action scenes don't need much, if any, explanation. The fighting style was crude by today's standards, as one would expect, but they had their own charm.

The same is true of thee special effects utilized, such as double-exposures. Another technique involved freezing the action and having a character step out of frame before re-cranking the camera. This results in him apparently "disappearing" and then "reappearing" when the action freezes and he steps back in frame.

Jiraiya The Ninja

This technique is also used for transformations, as when Jiraiya turns into a frog (see image above) and back into a human. Similarly, one of his opponents turns into a snake.

It's not really appropriate for me to assign a star rating to Jiraiya The Ninja, since only a part of it is available. But I will say it was enjoyable to watch, aside from the scratches and other artifacts of age. (It would be wonderful if someone would give it and other important old films the "Criterion treatment" or some similar loving restoration.) Jiraiya is clearly an important film in terms of Japanese cinema, and I found it to be charming and delightful in its own way.

The Burmese Harp

Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial continues today, Thursday, October 6th with four films, of which I've seen two. The Burmese Harp (1956) is a remarkable tale from Kon Ichikawa of a lowly Japanese soldier who stays in Burma after his army surrenders at the end of World War II. There he devotes his life to finding the remains of the war dead and giving them proper burial. It will be shown at 6:20 PM today, and again tomorrow, Friday, at 8:15 PM. Details here.

Crazed Fruit

At 8:40 PM tonight, and at 4:40 Friday afternoon, Ko Nakahira's youth flick Crazed Fruit will be shown. Hormones rage in this taiyozoku (Sun Tribe) tale of post WWII well-off Japanese youths. Like The Burmese Harp, it also hails from 1956. Like the two previous Sun Tribe films Nikkatsu released that year, it was based on a story by 1956 Akutagawa literary prize winner, and later politician, Shintaro Ishihara. At its most basic, Crazed Fruit is the tail of rivalry between two brothers for a lovely young thing, Eri (Mie Kitahara). For info about the Crazed Fruit screenings, click here.

For descriptions of all the film in the Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses film series, schedule information and to buy tickets, click here.

ACF 1169: Thanks, Joe Shishido!

I interviewed Japanese actor Joe Shishido at Lincoln Center's Elinor Bunin Munroe Theater yesterday afternoon. He's in town this weekend for personal appearances at some screenings of Nikkatsu films in which he starred, such as Yasuharu Hasebe's Retaliation (1968), which was shown Saturday evening. It'll be shown again on October 13th, but Shishido won't be at that screening.

I'm going to make every effort to transcribe, edit and post the interview as soon as possible. In the meanwhile, I have to share the wonderful autograph he gave me on the cover of the booklet to my DVD of Youth of the Beast:

I kept referring to him as "Shishido-sama," using the highest honorific out of respect, and he kept telling me to call him "Joe." He's 77 years old (he'll be 78 this coming December 6th), still acting, and a wonderful person to sit and talk with.

Joe Shishido in Gate of Flesh

"Joe" (as he asked me to call him) will also be appearing in person at the screening of Seijun Suzuki's Gate of Flesh at 6:30 PM today. For info and to order tickets to that screening click here.

These screenings are part of Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial, a Masterworks side-bar to the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual New York Film Festival.

Film descriptions, schedule information, and ordering tickets for the Velvet Bullets film series here.

Information about the entire 49th NY Film Festival here.

ACF 1125: 49th New York Film Festival Masterworks Series Will Honor Nikkatsu Corporation

Image from Seijun Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced an incredible Masterworks Series at this year's New York Film festival will focus on the Nikkatsu Corporation in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of its founding. The incredible line-up of films that will be screened is liisted below in alphabetical order. I haven't seen info about the specific schedule of days and times, although the festival will run from September 30th to October 16th, 2011. Film Society members and patrons will have the opportunity to buy advance and discount tickets to the festival. To enjoy these special benefits, join the Film Society by clicking here. Tickets go on sale to the general public on September 12th



I'll pass on schedule information as soon as I can. In the meanwhile, read the following and drool!!!!



Founded upon the consolidation of several production companies and theater chains, Nikkatsu Corporation has enjoyed a rich history of film production and distribution since 1912. Since that time, notable directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa, Shozo Makino and his son Masahiro Makino, Ko Nakahira, Shohei Imamura and Seijun Suzuki have made films under the Nikkatsu banner. During World War 2, Nikkatsu was forcibly combined with several other Japanese studios to form a large, government-influenced studio, but in 1954 the company resumed production under its own control.



Searching for its own niche in the booming postwar Japanese film industry, Nikkatsu moved into the youth market with its stirring screen adaptation of Shintaro Ishihara’s SEASON OF THE SUN. An enormous success, Nikkatsu quickly followed up with a wave of similar works oriented for the youth market. As the vogue for these youth films began to wane in the early 60s, Nikkatsu launched a series of hard-boiled action films that remain perhaps the company’s best known period internationally. Led by such action stars as Shishedo Joe, Yujiro Ishihara and Hideaki Nitani, Nikkatsu action introduced a new kind of protagonist, often cynical and at odds with a society revealed to be totally corrupt. Influenced by American B movies, Nikkatsu action would itself be a key influence on the Hong Kong gunplay films years later.



With aging action stars and a public looking for something new, Nikkatsu in the 70s created “Roman Porno,” romantic pornography, a series of soft-core erotic films that featured real (if often bizarre) plots and actors. The constant shift in production enabled Nikkatsu to stay profitable while other Japanese studios were either closing or switching to television. Yet by the 90s, Nikkkatsu was itself forced to declare bankruptcy and re-organize. Despite changes in ownership since then, Nikkatsu has remained continuously in production, branching out into new genre such as horror, martial arts and even family drama. As it approaches its centenary, Nikkatsu’s motto “We Make Fun Films” remains as true today as it was in its golden era. A new generation of filmgoers are discovering its classic films and filmmakers, inspiring not only the re-release of films from their catalogue but the production of remakes as well. Organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center with Nikkatsu Corporation, the Japan Foundation and the National Film Center of Japan, this Centenary Celebration of Nikkatsu will be screened later this year at the Festival of 3 Continents in Nantes, France, as well as at the Cinematheque Française.



Nikkatsu 100th Anniversary Retrospective Lineup:



AKANISHI KAKITA(1936) 77min

Director: Mansaku Itami



THE BURMESE HARP(Biruma no Tategoto) (1956) 115min

Director: Kon Ichikawa



CHARISMA(Karisuma) (1999) 103min

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa



COLD FISH(Tsumetai Nettaigyo) (2010) 144min

Director: Sion Sono



A COLT IS MY PASSPORT(Colt ha Oreno Passport) (1967) 85min

Director: Takashi Nomura



CRAZED FRUIT(Kurutta Kajitsu) (1956) 86min

Director: Ko Nakahira



DANCER IN IZU(Izo no Odoriko) (1963) 87min

Director: Katsumi Nisikawa



A DIARY OF CHUJI’S TRAVELS(Chiji Tabi Nikki: Part 1 and Part 2) (1927) 107min

Director: Daisuke Ito



EARTH(1939) 92min

Director: Tomu Uchida



GATE OF FLESH(Nikutai no Mon) (1964) 90min

Director: Seijun Suzuki



THE HELL-FATED COURTESAN(Maruhi: Joro Seme Jigoku) (1973) 77min

Director: Noboru Tanaka



HOMETOWN(1930) 86min

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi



I LOOK UP WHEN I WALK(aka KEEP YOUR CHIN UP) (Uewo Muite Arukou) (1962) 91min

Director: Toshio Masuda



INTENTIONS OF MURDER(Akai Satsui) (1964) 150min

Director: Shohei Imamura



INTIMIDATION(Aru Kyohaku) (1960) 65min

Director: Koreyosji Kurahara



LOVE HOTEL(1985) 88min

Director: Shinji Somae



MADE TO ORDER CLOTH(aka JIROKICHI THE RAT) (Oatsurae Jirokichi Koshi) (1931) 70min

Director: Daisuke Ito

**Screening with:

JIRAIYA THE NINJA(Goketsu Jiraiya) (1921) 30min

Director: Shozo Makino



MUD AND SOLDIERS(Tsuchi to Heitai) (1936) 120min

Director: Tomotaka Tasaka



THE OLDEST PROFESSION(Maruhi: Shikiyo Mesu Ichiba) (1974) 83min

Director: Noboru Tanaka



PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS(Buta to Gunkan) (1961) 108min

Director: Shohei Imamura



A POT WORTH A MILLION RYO(Tange Sazen Hyakuman Ryou no Tsubo) (1935) 92min

Director: Sadao Yamanaka



RETALIATION(Shima ha Moratta) (1967) 94min

Director: Yasuharu Hasebe



RUSTY KNIFE(Sabita Knife) (1958) 90min

Director: Toshio Masuda



SEASON OF THE SUN(Taiyo no Kisetsu) (1956) 89min

Director: Takumi Furukawa



SINGING LOVE BIRDS(Oshidori Uta Gassen) (1936) 69min

Director: Masahiro Makino



STRAY CAT ROCK: SEX HUNTER(Noraneko Rock: Sex Hunter) (1970) 86min

Director: Yasuharu Hasebe



SUN IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE SHOGUNATE(aka Shinagawa Path) (Bakumatsu Taiyoden) (1957) 110min

Director: Yuzo Kawashima



SUZUKI PARADISE: RED LIGHT(Suzuki Paradise: Aka Shingo) (1956) 81min

Director: Yuzo Kawashima



TAKE AIM AT THE POLICE VAN(Jusango Taihisen Yori: Sono Gososha wo Nerae) (1960) 79min

Director: Seijun Suzuki



THE TATTOOED FLOWER VASE(Kashinno Irezumi: Ureta Tsubo) (1979) 74min

Director: Masaru Konuma



TEN NIGHTS OF DREAMS(Yume Juya) (2007) 110min

Director: Various



TILL WE MEET AGAIN(Ashita Kuru Hito) (1955) 115min

Director: Yuzo Kawashima



TOKYO DRIFTER(Tokyo Nagaremono) (1966) 83min

Director: Seijun Suzuki



THE WARPED ONES(1960) 108min

Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara



THE WOMAN WITH RED HAIR(Akai Kami no Onna) (1979) 73min

Director: Tatsumi Kumashiro



A WORLD OF GEISHA(Yojyohan Fusuma no Urabari) (1973) 77min

Director: Tatsumi Kumashiro

ACF 077: "Gangster VIP" at Japan Society

Gangster VIP / Burai yori daikanbu

Directed by Toshio Matsuda

Japan 1968

Tetsuya Watari (l) and Cheiko Matsubara (r)

The No Borders, No Limits: 1960s Nikkatsu Action Cinema series continues at Japan Society this Friday, February 22, 2008, with a 7:30 PM screening of Gangster VIP.

Tetsuya Watari (Tokyo Drifter, Like a Shooting Star) stars as Goro Fujikawa, a young yakuza who tries to go straight after serving a three year sentence for stabbing a hitman from a rival gang. But as things usually go in these stories, events undermine such intentions and draw Goro back into the criminal world of violence and revenge.

Tetsuya Watari (l) and Kyosuke Machida (r)

Gangster VIP was the first installment of what became a six-part Burai series of films made in 1968 and 1969. It was based on the memoirs of Goro Fujita, a real yakuza.

For more information or to buy tickets, click here.

To view the trailer on YouTube, click here.

Images Copyright 1968 Nikkatsu Corporation

ACF 046: A Colt Is My Passport

Jerry Fujio (l), Jo Shishido (c) and Chitose Kobayashi (r)

A Colt is My Passport / Koruto wa ore no pasupoto
Directed by Takashi Nomura
© 1967 Nikkatsu Corporation
Black and White 35 mm, 84 min.

This Friday, September 28, 2007, at 7:30 pm, Japan Society is providing New Yorkers with an opportunity to see this terrific, exciting actioner. It's the lead-off film in the NO BORDERS, NOLIMITS: 1960s Nikkatsu Action Cinema series. I was fortunate in being able to see it at a press screening last week, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again on Friday.

Jo Shishido, seen later the same year in the better known Branded To Kill by Seijun Suzuki, here plays an assassin hired by one Yakuza group to kill the oyabun (leader) of a rival group. After pulling off the hit, he and his partner (played by Jerry Fujio) find their initial escape plan thwarted at the airport. They then hide out in a cheap inn in Yokohama, hoping to escape by boat. They are befriended by a young woman who works there (actress Chirose Kobayashi) and who also longs to escape.

An unexpected - and highly unlikely - rapprochement between the two Yakuza gangs, leads to betrayal by those who ordered the hit. Now Jo and his partner find themselves targeted by everyone involved.

The ending, a face-off between Shishido's character and the gang members, some in a bullet-proof Mercedes, takes place on a barren expanse of reclaimed land. It's so over the top, so delectably implausible, that you just have to love it.

A Colt Is My Passport gets a 3 out of 4 star ACF rating, solidly recommeded.

NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS is the inaugural series of a new, annual event at Japan Society called "Monthly Classics." Mark Shilling, author (The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films) and critic, is the guest curator for this series. An earlier version of NB,NL was first presented at the 2005 Udine Far East Film Festival. Mr Shilling will be at Japan Society to introduce the film on Friday, and will be present afterward for a reception and signing of his accompanying book, No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema, newly edited and published by FAB Press.

Trivia:
- Shishido had plastic surgery, reportedly in 1956, that gave him his trademark "chipmunk cheeks." I'm pretty sure he also had eye surgery to give him more Occidental-looking eyelids.
- The initial target's car is a 1960 Dodge Dart, the top-of-the-line Phoenix model, I believe. My family had the mid-level Pioneer version, complete with push-button automatic transmission!)

ACF 044: Nikkatsu Action Series

A Colt is My Passport © 1967 Nikkatsu Corporation

I've covered various film series at Japan Society for Asian Cult Cinema magazine for several years now, and I've seen lots of good films and quite a few great ones there. But I've never been as excited about an upcoming series as I am about NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS: 1960s Nikkatsu Action Cinema. This series marks the launch of a new annual event called "Monthly Classics" that will utilize guest curators to create film series that will feature -- have you guessed -- one screening approximately every month.

Nikkatsu produced over 500 action genre films starting in the mid-50s. Probably its best known products, at least in the U.S., are Seijun Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter (1966) and Branded To Kill (1967), the latter of which ironically led to Suzuki being terminated for making "incomprehensible" movies, as the studio suits put it. [Both of these Suzuki films, as well as several others, are available from The Criterion Collection. Enough said.]

NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS will feature eight films never before screened in the United States. The series will consist of:

A Colt is My Passport, directed by Takashi Nomura, September 28, 2007
The Warped Ones, directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara, November 9, 2007
Like a Shooting Star, directed by Toshio Masuda, December 14, 2007
Red Handkerchief, directed by Toshio Masuda, January 18, 2008
Gangster VIP, directed by Toshio Masuda, February 22, 2008
Plains Wanderer, directed by Buichi Saito, March 14, 2008
Glass Johnny: Looks Like a Beast, directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara, April 4, 2008
Roughneck, directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, May 2, 2008

Author and critic Mark Schilling, who began living in Tokyo in 1975 and who is currently the Japan correspondent for Variety, curated this show. He will introduce A Colt is My Passport, the series opener, on Friday, September 28th. Afterwards there will be a reception, and the author will be signing his book, appropriately titled No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema, which has been newly edited and published by FAB Press. Shilling's other works include The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films, which I'm currently reading and enjoying.

All films will be shown with new digital English subtitles, prints courtesy of Nikkatsu Corporation. Show times will be at 7:30 PM.

NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS is co-organized by Outcast Cinema. A tour of other US and Canadian venues is planned for later in 2007 and in 2008.

For further info click on this link to the NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS page at Japan Society.