Asian Studies: Selected Film Titles Available @ the Library

A true crime story about Iwao Enokizu, self-styled "King of criminals." Enokizu began his criminal career through a series of murders that made headlines and startled all Japan with a sense of uneasy fascination.

A small time porno filmmaker in Osaka, struggles to cope with the corrupt sexual mores in his family, the world outside, and in himself. He peddles his films to condescending executives and panders a little on the side, believing he provides a socially valuable service.

Reconstructing the splendor of feudal Japan and the pageantry of war, Kurosawa creates a soaring historical epic about a peasant impersonating a nobleman in battle. Kagemusha is presented in its original 180 min. uncut Japanese version, not the shortened "international version" presented by 20th Century Fox.

A princess must escape across enemy lines with the royal treasure, guarded only by a loyal general and two greedy peasants.

Adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in feudal Japan. Tells the story of a Samurai lord who kills his master and usurps his power in fulfillment of a witch's prophecy.

A vain young doctor learns a valuable lesson from the dedicated director of a clinic for destitute patients.

[Disc 1] Soshun = Early spring (1956 ; 145 min.) -- [Disc 2] Tokyo boshoku = Tokyo twilight (1957 ; 141 min.) -- [Disc 3] Higanbana = Equinox flower (1958 ; 118 min.) -- [Disc 4] Akibiyori = Late Autumn (1960 ; 129 min.) -- [Disc 5] Kohayagawake no aki = The end of summer (1961 ; 103 min.)

"Master filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu directed fifty-three feature films over the course of his long career. Yet it was in the final decade of his life, his "old master" phase, that he entered his artistic prime. Centered more than ever on the modern sensibilities of the younger generation, these delicate family dramas are marked by an exquisite formal elegance and emotional sensitivity about birth and death, love and marriage, and all the accompanying joys and loneliness. Along with such better-known films as Floating Weeds and An Autumn Afternoon, these five works illustrate the worldly wisdom of one of cinema's great artists at the height of his powers."--Publisher.

A Baron, forced by circumstances, gives up his life of luxury and takes up residence in the slums of Paris. The Baron observes the frustrated romance between Wasska Pepel and Natacha, the thwarted dreams of an actor, and the oppressive cruelties of landlord Kostileff.
Donzoko (125 min.): Sutekichi, a vulgar, comical thief takes up residence in a slum flophouse inhabited by many eccentric, destitute people. Osugi, the cruel landlady, and her sister, Okayo, both desire him, and fight each other over him. Set in Edo-period Japan. (93 mins).

"Region 1; Dolby digital mono; NTSC.; Based on the play: Na dne / by Maxim Gorky.; Les bas-fonds was originally released as a motion picture in 1936; Donzoko in 1957.; Special features, disc 1, Les Bas-fonds: New digital transfer with restored image and sound; Introduction to the film by Jean Renoir; New and improved English subtitles; RSDL dual layer.; Special features, disc 2, Donzoko: New high definition, digital transfer with restored image and sound; Optional audio commentary by Donald Richie; A 33 minute documentary about the film; New English subtitles; RSDL dual layer."

Satiric comedy in which two young brothers refuse to talk until their parents agree to buy them a television set. Set in a 1950s residential suburb of Tokyo.

A young widow with family obligations, Keiko is the madam of an upstairs bar in the exclusive Ginza district of Tokyo in 1960. As she approaches 30, she realizes that her life is at a crossroads: she must either go into business and open her own bar or marry.

Four films -- [Disc 1.] Waga seishun ni kuinashi = No regrets for our youth -- [Disc 2.] Subarashiki nichiyobi = One Wonderful Sunday (1947) -- [Disc 3.] Shubun = Scandal (1950) -- [Disc 4.] Hakuchi = The Idiot (1951) -- [Disc 5.] Ikimono no kiroku = I Live in Fear (1955).

An aging warlord decides to split his kingdom between his three sons, who will live in three separate castles. The two eldest sons are quite happy, but the youngest thinks his father has gone mad, and predicts that it won't be long until the two older brothers are fighting with each other.

Set in the Middle Ages, the nature of truth and subjective reality are probed in a series of flashbacks from four viewpoints to present the case history of a man's murder and the rape of his wife by a bandit.

When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave drivers.

Tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire seven out-of-work warriors to protect them from invading bandits.

A botched kidnapping of a Japanese executive's son turns into a race-against-time

A botched kidnapping of a Japanese executive's son turns into a race-against-time.

In 1959, Yasujiro Ozu remade his 1934 silent film: A Story of Floating Weeds in color and sound with the cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Ugetsu). Setting his later version in a seaside location, Ozu otherwise preserves the details of his elegantly simple plot wherein an aging actor returns to a small town with his troupe and reunities with his former lover and illegitimate son, a scenario that enrages his current mistress and results in heartbreak for all. A Story of Floating Weeds reveals Ozu in the midst of developing his mode of expression; Floating weeds reveals his distinct style at its pinnacle. In each, the director captures the joy and sadness in everyday life.

A young executive hunts down his father's killer. A tale about corruption in the boardrooms of postwar corporate Japan as seen through the rising executive eyes.

A tuberculosis-infected criminal starts an unhealthy relationship with an alcoholic doctor. Bonus features include commentary; documentary; and more. Also includes booklet containing essays and a reprint from Kurosawa's autobiography.

In the year 1860, a wandering samurai-for-hire turns the war between two clans fighting for control of a small town to his own advantage.