Hiroshi Inagaki’s “Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto” was a critical and box office success. It was time to continue the narrative in the second entry of “The Samurai Trilogy.” Inagaki would raise more stakes, and much of Musashi’s history would be covered, albeit in a more theatrically romanticized way. Also, a major player in the narrative would be introduced, one that would participate in a significant event in the life of Musashi Miyamoto. So much content would be covered in the entertaining follow-up “Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple.”
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A majority of the cast from the previous returned, but some were recast here. Rentaro Mikuni was replaced in the part of Matahachi Honiden by Sachio Sakai. This change was likely due to Mikuni’s demanding schedule as he became more and more of a popular star in Japan. The renowned talent would work with...
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A majority of the cast from the previous returned, but some were recast here. Rentaro Mikuni was replaced in the part of Matahachi Honiden by Sachio Sakai. This change was likely due to Mikuni’s demanding schedule as he became more and more of a popular star in Japan. The renowned talent would work with...
- 7/15/2022
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
One of the trademarks of Yasuhiro Ozu’s family dramas is the remarkably realistic presentation of everyday life in Japan. “The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice” also entails this characteristic, but also moments of comedy that deem the movie quite approachable.
The film revolves around a childless, middle-aged couple in post-war Japan, Taeko and Mokichi. Taeko is deeply unsatisfied with her wedding, and channels her frustration through behaviour that could be perceived extreme at the time, cheating her husband to go on a trip with friends, or going on trips without notifying anyone. Furthermore, she mocks her husband to her girlfriends every chance she gets. Mokichi on the other hand, seems almost oblivious to his wife’s mentality, as he eventually starts frequenting a pachinko parlor run by a former army comrade, along with a young friend, Non. In the middle of this situation is their niece,...
The film revolves around a childless, middle-aged couple in post-war Japan, Taeko and Mokichi. Taeko is deeply unsatisfied with her wedding, and channels her frustration through behaviour that could be perceived extreme at the time, cheating her husband to go on a trip with friends, or going on trips without notifying anyone. Furthermore, she mocks her husband to her girlfriends every chance she gets. Mokichi on the other hand, seems almost oblivious to his wife’s mentality, as he eventually starts frequenting a pachinko parlor run by a former army comrade, along with a young friend, Non. In the middle of this situation is their niece,...
- 5/31/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Made the year before Yasujiro Ozu's masterpiece Tokyo Story, The Flavour Of Green Tea Over Rice is a gently enjoyable, if rather languorous, domestic drama - this time about the cracks beneath the surface of a middle-class marriage. The title takes its name from the way Mokichi (Shin Saburi) likes to eat his dinner - one of the many small ways his middle-class habits manage to irritate his more upper-class wife Taeko (Michiyo Kogure), who refers to him among her friends as Mr Bonehead.
He's actually a rather sweet, if dull, salary man, with an auspicious past in the army, whose arranged marriage to Taeko has evidently been more tolerable than smooth - with no children and increasing amounts of friction that reveals itself more through gesture than conversation. One of the places Mokichi goes after work is named the Bittersweet School of Life pachinko parlour - a hangout where.
He's actually a rather sweet, if dull, salary man, with an auspicious past in the army, whose arranged marriage to Taeko has evidently been more tolerable than smooth - with no children and increasing amounts of friction that reveals itself more through gesture than conversation. One of the places Mokichi goes after work is named the Bittersweet School of Life pachinko parlour - a hangout where.
- 5/19/2020
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
There’s nothing like the term ‘Transcendental Style’ to intimidate a filmgoer, but have no fear: Yasujiro Ozu’s tale of a domestic trial is as accessible as I Love Lucy… only more substantial. The transcendental effect is being drawn into Ozu’s minimalist, precisely simplified and mysteriously profound directing style. Ten minutes in you wonder what the big deal is, but not much later one is hanging onto every cut, absorbed by tiny gestures and facial expressions. And yet it all seems natural. The Ozu ‘stasis’ some people mention is not at all static, but an X-Ray into everyday dramatic realities. With an entire second feature by Ozu, What Did the Lady Forget?
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 989
1952 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 116 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 27, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Shin Saburi, Michiyo Kogure, Koji Tsuruta, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima,...
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 989
1952 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 116 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 27, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Shin Saburi, Michiyo Kogure, Koji Tsuruta, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima,...
- 8/27/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Street of Shame is a beautiful drama film that follows the daily lives of five prostitutes situated in Yoshiwara, Tokyo’s red light district, during the mid-1950s. The American occupation has ended and the majority of the Japanese population is still struggling to get by after the destructive Second World War that ended over a decade ago. For the sex-workers times have become extra challenging as the Diet is considering to ban prostitution, which would mean losing their income. But for some it would also mean a way out of the life they are stuck in.
Street of Shame is the last film of legendary Japanese filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi, director of timeless classics like Ugetsu (1953) and The Life of Oharu (1952). He died a few months after the film was released, leaving his audience with a strong motion picture as a closure to a prolific career. The film was a...
Street of Shame is the last film of legendary Japanese filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi, director of timeless classics like Ugetsu (1953) and The Life of Oharu (1952). He died a few months after the film was released, leaving his audience with a strong motion picture as a closure to a prolific career. The film was a...
- 12/28/2016
- by Thor
- AsianMoviePulse
It's been a while since we've posted a still from a Mikio Naruse movie here at the Notebook, so here ya go—and this one doesn't even have Hideko Takamine in it (a first?).
Instead, it's Triple Crown of Japanese Acting (Ozu! Naruse! Mizoguchi!) holder Michiyo Kogure in a moment of typically-Narusean anxiety in Even Parting is Enjoyable, M.N.'s contribution to the 1947 Toho omnibus Four Love Stories. Despair and unflattering haircuts go hand-in-hand.
Instead, it's Triple Crown of Japanese Acting (Ozu! Naruse! Mizoguchi!) holder Michiyo Kogure in a moment of typically-Narusean anxiety in Even Parting is Enjoyable, M.N.'s contribution to the 1947 Toho omnibus Four Love Stories. Despair and unflattering haircuts go hand-in-hand.
- 4/10/2011
- MUBI
Yoidore tenshi / Drunken Angel (1948) Direction: Akira Kurosawa Screenplay: Akira Kurosawa, Keinosuke Uekusa Cast: Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Reisaburo Yamamoto, Michiyo Kogure, Chieko Nakakita By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica: Watching Akira Kurosawa’s 1948 black-and-white effort Yoidore Tenshi / Drunken Angel is an interesting experience, for he clearly had not mastered the art form, yet. Even so, there is so much that is good in Drunken Angel — touches that would become great in just a few years. It’s like looking at a fetus and seeing distinguishable characteristics of its parents, though none is fully formed. Additionally, the same could be said of the director’s budding partnership with leading man Toshiro Mifune, partly because Mifune is not the film's main character. After all, the 'drunken angel' is played by Takashi Shimura, one of the best actors in film history – just watch Ikiru – and Kurosawa’s leading male actor until Mifune asserted [...]...
- 11/13/2010
- by Dan Schneider
- Alt Film Guide
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