In medieval Japan a rebellious Korean artist named Yoshihide (Tatsuya Nakadai) witnesses the death of a peasant at the hands of Lord Hosokawa (Kinnosuke Nakamura) and creates a painting of the dead man cursing Hosokowa that’s so vivid it panics the tyrant into visions of his ghost. So Hosokowa retaliates by ordering Yoshihide to paint a mural extolling his benevolence. … Read the rest
Tag: Tatsuya Nakadai
Cash Calls Hell (Hideo Gosha, Japan, 1966)
On the eve of his release from prison after killing a father and his child in a car crash Oida (Tatsuya Nakadai) accepts an offer of 15 million yen from his cellmate Sengoku to kill three men with no questions asked. But when the first of his intended victims is killed by two hitmen the deceased man’s infant daughter Tomoe … Read the rest
Sanjuro (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1962)
A terrific film that vaults into the first rank of my favourite Kurosawa’s alongside Ran, Rashomon, High and Low and Rhapsody in August. Toshiro Mifune is an absolute delight here as the scruffy, indolent, but-light-years-ahead-of-everyone-else warrior who rescues a bunch of witless samurai and then cleans up their corruption difficulties in local government. Two things I loved … Read the rest
Blue Christmas (Kihachi Okamoto, Japan, 1978)
After Professor Hyodo makes claims about UFO’s and aliens he disappears and TV reporter Minami (Tatsuya Nakadai) is assigned to investigate. Minami’s search turns up rumours of people whose blood has turned blue after exposure to UFO’s and their forcible incarceration and vivisection in secret US detention camps. But Minami’s attempts to reveal the truth face a global conspiracy by … Read the rest
The Inheritance (Masaki Kobayashi, Japan, 1962)
Dying businessman Senzo (So Yamamura) announces his vast fortune is to be split among his three illegitimate children provided they can be located. To this end he orders loyal and innocent secretary Yasuko (Keiko Kishi) to locate his eldest whilst a bent lawyer (Jun Hamamura) is instructed to find the other two. But Senzo’s greedy wife Sato (Misako Watanabe) conspires … Read the rest
