Criterion

by Ari

Japanese Edition

One of the best things about the Criterion Collection is their support of classic Japanese films from the 50s and 60s. Just as France and Italy had their new waves of talent emerge during that crucial period in film history, Japan answered with an array of talented artists working at the highest levels of creativity and passion, and in several different genres and styles to boot. There was art and pop-art exploding onto the scene in the 50s and especially the 60s, with filmmakers of many different tastes expressing their singular ideas and stories. Now, there’s no way to properly discuss everything, but thanks to Criterion, we get a sample of what made those decades so special.

Crazed Fruit - Ko Nakahira:

There’s nothing I can say about this film in a paragraph that will be anywhere near as insightful or interesting as this wonderful essay by Chuck Stephens. Crazed Fruit is the sexually provocative story about two brothers who fall for the same girl during one eventful summer of their young lives. Nakahira broke free from the socially acceptable conventions of the time to stir his audience, and while the film is very much a product of the 50s, its power is still forceful and surprisingly immediate. Similar themes are explored in Rebel Without a Cause, but as much as I admire that film, Nakahira’s tale of the highs and lows of youth in post-war Japan is the superior work. And the ending....my god the ending.

High and Low - Akira Kurosawa

Speaking of highs and lows....Kurosawa’s High and Low, a remarkable thriller that essentially gave birth to the police procedural as we know it. Toshiro Mifune stars as a successful businessman whose life is torn apart by a kidnapper out to ruin him and his family by stealing his fortune. The first half of the film deals with the kidnapping, the second half with the investigation, but this is no routine thriller in any way, shape, or form. The "High" and "Low" of the title could refer to a number of things, whether it’s the emotions of the characters, the exhaustive search for the criminal, or even the symbol of the heaven and hell we see represented in the film. The surface is a thriller, the core is a social commentary. High and Low is a brilliant film, one of Kurosawa’s best. With Tatsuya Nakadai as Inspector Tokuro.

Kwaidan - Masaki Kobayashi

I briefly wrote about this film on our conversation blog just a few hours ago. As stated, Kwaidan is a collection of four ghost stories unlike anything seen before or since (the film was made in 1965).....theatrical, eerie, and quietly unnerving, with director Masaki Kobayashi's astonishing visual sensibilities on full display. The technicolor cinematography is beautiful and terrifying. This is Kobayashi’s visual masterwork. The third story, “Hoichi, the Earless”, is better than most movies alone.

Youth of the Beast - Seijun Suzuki

It’s Yojimbo set in the Yakuza underworld of the 60s, and with director Seijun Suzuki’s signature visual flair. This film is the wildest, craziest, most ludicrous gangster film ever made, a work of pop-spectacle at its most spectacular. It’s violent, it’s strangely hilarious, it’s brazenly over-the-top, it’s something you will never forget. Is Youth of the Beast a B-movie? Yes and no. It’s hyper-real in a way that defined many exploitation films of the period, but the skill used to create the outlandish imagery, larger-than-life performances, and overall level of excitement is the mark of an undeniable master. There’s nothing like this film. Youth of the Beast is the quintessential 60s Yakuza epic.