#ghost of kurosawa

[cesarescabinet]

(this is spacekrakens lmao) dude idk anything about like 1950s Japanese cinema, do you have any recommendations? looking for stuff to toss on the watchlist now that I'm a bit burned out on horror (unless you have some horror recs)

Hey! If you’re curious about Japanese cinema (particularly 1950s), there’s a lot of avenues to explore! Musicals, crime, horror, historical—it all depends on what mood you’re in. (Putting this under a read more because I'm DEFINITELY going to be long posting about this!!!) Hope this is useful to you lol.

(Also noting if anybody wants to add to this list with their own recommendations feel free!!)

With old school Japanese cinema, I’ll always recommend Akira Kurosawa (obviously). He’s made some of the best Japanese movies (and arguably, the best movies of all time imo) and I feel like his work is a good gateway. It’s readily available on physical media/streaming too.

Specifically ‘50s stuff; Hidden Fortress (1958) is a good adventure flick whose structure was swiped for Star Wars, Throne of Blood (1957) is Japanese Macbeth if you like Shakespeare, and if you don’t mind a longer movie Seven Samurai (1954) includes Toshiro Mifune acting like this;

Gotta admit, though—my personal favorites from Kurosawa don’t come from the 1950s; Drunken Angel (1948) and Yojimbo (1961). One has a pathetic gangster as the main lead, the other is just a solid, breezy proto-action film (also has my beloved Unosuke but that's besides the point)

Some personal favorites of mine from the 1950s:

Life of a Horse Trader (1951) is a bittersweet story about a man trying to be a good single father to his son in the backdrop of Hokkaido. He tends not to be great at it. Stars Toshiro Mifune, the most famous face of Japanese cinema and for good reason!

Conflagration/Enjo (1958) is a single Buddhist acolyte’s fall into quiet insanity. Raizo Ichikawa is another amazing actor who I love! Also includes Tatsuya Nakadai who is the GOAT (in my heart).

Godzilla (1954) is AMAZING! If you liked Gozilla Minus One, it took a lot of familiar cues from this movie. It also technically counts as horror, depending on your definition.

Japanese horror from the 1950s:

Ugetsu (1951) (Not one I’ve seen personally, but it’s on Criterion)

The Beast Shall Die (1958) (American Psycho, but in Showa Japan. Tatsuya Nakadai is terrifying in this and absolutely despicable—stylish movie tho!)

Ghost of Yotsuya (1959) (Old-school Japanese ghost story. Honestly, there are so many different versions of this story on film that you can pick which version to watch and go from there—I’m partial to the 1965 version myself, because of the rubber rats and Tatsuya Nakadai playing a crazy person).

The Lady Vampire (1959) is the OG western-style vampire movie from Japan. Plays around with the mythos a lot, but hey our Dracula looks like this;

Misc movies that I think are neat or good gateway movies:

The Samurai Trilogy by Hiroshi Inagaki, which stars Toshiro Mifune as Miyamoto Musashi. Found that people otherwise uninterested in Japanese cinema really enjoyed this!

You Can Succeed, Too (1964) is one of my favorites from the ‘60s, also directed by Eizō Sugawa. A fun satire on the corporate world that's super colorful with catchy songs.

The Sword of Doom (1966) is also another favorite of mine, starring my beloved Tatsuya Nakadai as another bastard man (seriously though Ryunosuke is FASCINATING to me--). Fun gore effects and action scenes!

Kwaidan (1964) is an anthology of Japanese folk tales, labeled a horror film but in that kinda sorta old-school way. Beautifully shot by my favorite Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi (who, if you like this you should seriously check out his other work!)

[53v3nfrn5]

Fatal Frame III: The Tormented Japanese Promo ‘致命的なフレームIII:苦しめられた’

[redsamuraiii]

John Wick Director, Chad Stahelski, confirms the script for the Ghost of Tsushima movie is complete.

Stahelski's Asian influences in the John Wick franchise make him the perfect fit for Ghost of Tsushima, as he expertly shoots kenjutsu sequences and pays homage to Akira Kurosawa.

Stahelski's passion for the project is evident, as he hopes to have an all-Japanese cast speaking in their native language to stay true to the game's setting and story.

Source : Screen Rant

[mcphotovirtual]

A rare Ghost of Tsushima appearance 👀. I really need to get back to this game to take more shots. I maybe played it for all of 5 hours and that is criminal of me.

[residenteccentric]

I made a retrospective of the game Fatal Frame through the lens of exploring J-Horror of the time and how it intermingled technology as well as folkloric horror! Mainly through comparisons to the film Kairo (also known as Pulse)!

[freudianblunders]

Kairo, 2001

Watched the Japanese techno-horror film: Kairo (aka Pulse), directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. It is pretty absurd but definitely one of the scariest films I've ever watched! One particular scene was SO terrifying that my eyes were all watery with a sense of dread.

[wisteriacat]

happy halloween!! 

[ems-self-ships-galore]

Christmas Decorating

“Luna, it's one thing to move a pile of books I had laying there to someplace else where they could get lost- but it's also one thing to set up a random tree in it's place.”

“Ren, that makes zero sense. Besides, it's the holidays- we need to set up the tree,” Luna pointed out, setting up the christmas tree in the living room. “Whatever you say, Lunabun. I'm gonna go read for a bit-” Ren stated, starting to walk out of the living room just as Luna grabbed his right suspender. “Nope, you're helping me.” She told him.

“What? No no, I am not helping.”

“Yes you are, now don't fight me on this.” Luna stated. Ren, realizing that this was seemingly making Luna happy, begrudgingly stepped in. “I better get cuddles after this,” He pointed out. “Oh relax, you're getting cuddles after this whenever you like it or not.” Luna said.

Knock knock

“I'll get it-” Luna went off to answer the front door.

“Surprise, surprise.”

“Hey Hisoka, come on in. Ren's helping me setting up the tree,” Luna greeted her girlfriend, letting her come inside the house and so on. When Ren saw who it was, he was not too fazed at all to see that Hisoka had joined him in the embarrassment activities Christmas decorating.

“Why is she here?” He asked. “Wow, that's how you greet me?” Hisoka sarcastically wondered. “You're basically a normal occurrence here at this point,” Ren pointed out.

“Whatever, I managed to get into town- which was a pain as most trains were either on hold or not running at all, and I got some Christmas decor.” Hisoka mentioned, setting a bag on the coffee table. “Oh you're awesome, I love you.” Luna complimented in return, making sure to give Hisoka a little cheek kiss.

“The news mentioned how the trains are gonna be like that for the next few days, thanks to the multiple freak snowstorms that occurred back on Sunday and Wednesday- train schedules are gonna be quite wonky,” Ren pointed out. “Well if that's just delightful, hopefully by then the snow can get cleared up and we can all do present shopping.” Hisoka noted.

“The day's have been going quite fast, Hisoka- so we'll never know,” Luna stated.

“Fair point, love.”

The next few hours consisted of the three decorating the tree and the surrounding area, taking short breaks in between. When that early nighttime had fallen, they all admitted their handiwork. Ren, Luna, and Hisoka all curdled up on the couch nestled under a big old blanket.

“I think this was the best idea ever,” Luna stated. “But there's something missing,” She added. Ren and Hisoka looked at her funny.

“Like what?”

“We should watch a Christmas movie,”

Going along with it, there on that couch the three sat- watching some random Christmas movie that Luna had put on.

[thecrimsonvalley-creates]

~ Hisame ~ Inspiration did strike again, it was autumn after all and I was in my usual Project Zero mode. The result was Hisame, the spirit of a remaining from the Heian period. While she went through with her ritual, it broke her completely, leading to her trying to get back into the ritual area. It didn’t end well and Hisame’s body was buried in secret under a sacred tree. Several hundred years later, those seals broke and she rose from the dead, quite confused to her new living predicament.

[number1milfloislover]

Sweet Home (1989). Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. 

[anthologarium]

Ghosts won't kill people, because that would just make more ghosts. Instead they'll try to make people immortal, by quietly trapping them in their own loneliness.

—Pulse (2001), dir. by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

[pillowcaseghostie]

Gettin spooked in Demonologist!

[alightinthelantern]

Movies on Youtube:

Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)

Opening Night (1977, John Cassavetes)

Close Up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)

Taste of Cherry (1997, Abbas Kiarostami)

The Song of Sparrows (2008,  Majid Majidi)

Russian Ark (2002, Alexander Sokurov)

Dreams (1990, Akira Kurosawa)

Dersu Uzala (1975, Akira Kurosawa)

The Idiot (1951, Akira Kurosawa)

Drunken Angel (1948, Akira Kurosawa)

Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujirō Ozu)

Early Summer (1951, Yasujirō Ozu)

Late Spring (1949, Yasujirō Ozu)

The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice (1952, Yasujirō Ozu)

Good Morning (1959, Yasujirō Ozu)

An Autumn Afternoon (1962, Yasujirō Ozu)

Sword for Hire (1952, Inagaki Hiroshi)

Rebecca (1940, Alfred Hitchcock)

Thunderbolt (1929, Josef von Sternberg)

Larceny (1948, George Sherman)

Among the Living (1941, Stuart Heisler)

Andrei Rublev (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Mirror (1975, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Ivan’s Childhood (1962, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog)

Fitzcarraldo (1982, Werner Herzog)

Medea (1969, Pier Paolo Pasolini)

Medea (filmed stageplay)

Is It Easy To Be Young? (1986, Juris Podnieks)

We'll Live Till Monday (1968, Stanislav Rostotsky)

Ordinary Fascism (aka Triumph Over Violence) (1965, Mikhail Romm)

Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)

The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)

Johnny Come Lately (1943, William K. Howard)

Mister 880 (1950, Edmund Goulding)

Beethoven’s Eroica (2003, Simon Cellan Jones)

Katyn (2007, Andrzej Wajda)

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004, Brad Silberling)

Mean Girls (2004, Mark Waters)

The Neverending Story (1984, Wolfgang Petersen)

The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990, George T. Miller)

The Thief and the Cobbler (Richard Williams)

Osmosis Jones (2001, myriad directors)

Megamind (2010, Tom McGrath)

Ghost in the Shell (1995, Mamoru Oshii)

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004, Mamoru Oshii)

Steamboy (2004, Katsuhiro Otomo)

Badlands (1973), Terrence Malick

Wargames (1983, John Badham)

By the White Sea (2022, Aleksandr Zachinyayev)

White Moss (2014, Vladimir Tumayev)

The Theme (1979, Gleb Panfilov)

The Duchess (2008, Saul Dibb)

Bed and Sofa (1927, Abram Room)

Fate of a Man (1959, Sergei Bondarchuk)

Ballad of a Soldier (1959, Grigory Chukhray)

Uncle Vanya (1970, Andrey Konchalovskiy)

An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano (1977, Nikita Mikhalkov)

Family Relations (1981, Nikita Mikhalkov)

The Seagull (1970, Yuli Karasik)

My Tender and Affectionate Beast (1978, Emil Loteanu)

Dreams (1993, Karen Shakhnazarov & Alexander Borodyansky)

The Vanished Empire (2008, Karen Shakhnazarov)

Winter Evening in Gagra (1985, Karen Shakhnazarov)

Day of the Full Moon (1998, Karen Shakhnazarov)

Zero Town (1989, Karen Shakhnazarov)

The Girls (1961, Boris Bednyj)

The Diamond Arm (1969, Leonid Gaidai)

Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures (1965, Leonid Gaidai)

Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973, Leonid Gaidai)

Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia (1974, Eldar Ryazanov & Franco Prosperi)

Office Romance (1977, Eldar Ryazanov)

Carnival Night (1956, Eldar Ryazanov)

Hussar Ballad (1962, Eldar Ryazanov)

Kin-dza-dza! (1986, Georgiy Daneliya)

The Most Charming and Attractive (1985, Gerald Bezhanov)

Autumn (1974, Andrei Smirnov)

War and Peace: Part 1 (1966, Sergei Bondarchuk)

War and Peace: Part 2 (1966, Sergei Bondarchuk)

War and Peace: Part 3 (1967, Sergei Bondarchuk)

War and Peace: Part 4 (1967, Sergei Bondarchuk)

The Red Tent (first half) (1969, Mikhail Kalatozov)

The Red Tent (second half) (1969, Mikhail Kalatozov)

Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939, Sidney Lanfield)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939, Alfred L. Werker)

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942, John Rawlins)

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Spider Woman (1944, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Scarlet Claw (1944, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Pearl of Death (1944, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The House of Fear (1945, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Woman in Green (1945, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: Pursuit to Algiers (1945, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: Terror by Night (1946, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: Dressed to Kill (1946, Roy William Neill)

If any of the links don’t work, try looking up the film in this playlist: link

[mcphotovirtual]

Something from Tsushima that I didn’t use at the time, I felt like all I was taking was attack animation and idle stance shots (nothing wrong with that I suppose 🤭) But that was a while ago, this looks more striking to me now than it did then… Sooo, here it is.

[talesfromthecrypts]

Ghosts won't kill people… because that would just make more ghosts. Isn't that right? Instead, they'll try to make people immortal by quietly trapping them in their own loneliness.

Pulse (2001) dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa

[caputvulpinum]

I think that there are some valid criticisms to be made about Ghost of Tsushima as an ahistorical video game. However I think that those criticisms are missing the point. Ghost of Tsushima is not a game about historical accuracy, nor is it trying very hard to be one. And there are some good critiques to have of that, and to have of it as a potentially Orientalist viewpoint.

However. I think those criticisms are refusing to play in the space the video game is blatantly making for itself, which is namely, "What if we made a video game about a Kurosawa movie samurai losing his code of honor in order to become a cool ninja to kill the Mongols singlehandedly in a quest of supervengeance?", and the answer to that question is "It fucks severely and looks soooo pretty."