#kyôko kishida

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Woman in The Dunes (1964)  

[moviesandmania]

THE INFERNO (1979) Reviews of Japanese horror with trailer and Blu-ray details

The Inferno is a 1979 Japanese horror film exploring the sins, shame and desires of an upper-class rural family and a mother’s grief from beyond the grave. Inspired by the infamous 1960 film Jigoku which was also remade in 1999 by Teruo Ishii. Also known as Hell Directed by Tatsumi Kumashiro from a screenplay written by Yôzô Tanaka. Produced by Gorô Kusakabe, Norimichi Matsudaira, Kyô Namura and…

[disappointingyet]

Manji

Director Yasuzô Masumura Stars Kyôko Kishida, Ayako Wakao, Eiji Funakoshi Japan 1964 Language Japanese (with English subtitles) 1hr 31mins Colour

Legendary Japanese pervfest 

Manji is a film that has been remade four times – there’s clearly something about this story that is appealing to Japanese audiences.

At least in this version, the first, Manji is a melodrama. As in, the characters’ desires, actions and reactions are all extreme. It also feels like a precursor of sorts to the Hollywood erotic thrillers of the late 1980s and early ‘90s. And anticipates aspects of Park Chan-wook’s terrific The Handmaiden.

The framing device is a young woman, Sonoko (Kyôko Kishida), recounting to an older man the tumultuous events of the previous year. Those start with Sonoko, bourgeois, married, in a life drawing class at art school. The teacher points out she’s not drawn the face of the model. That almost instantly escalates to an accusation that she’s got the hots for Mitsuko (Kyôko Kishida). (There’s later an explanation for this sudden leap in logic, but it’s not out of keeping with how things generally work in this film.)

Sonoko and Mitsuko meet up to supposedly discuss how to dispel the rumours, but pretty soon Sonoko is demanding that Mitsuko takes her clothes off. The accusations of a lesbian affair thus lead swiftly to that affair actually taking place. 

Sonoko’s actions continue to be somewhat unhinged. Her rather dim husband (Eiji Funakoshi) knows that something is going on but she keeps just about convincing him that all is fine. Mitsuko, meanwhile, turns out to be both a schemer and a death-fetishist. 

There are twists, there is generally bizarre behaviour and lots of sexual obsession.

I’m not going to pretend to understand what this all meant in 1960s Japan, other than having seen some fairly out-there films made there at the time. I don’t think I've seen a Yasuzô Masumura movie before though. 

I think if you accept that Manji is bonkers, and accept the film’s own internal logic, then it’s tremendously enjoyable.  I saw Manji at the 2024 London Film Festival

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#movie #cinema

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WOMAN IN THE DUNES [Hiroshi Teshigahara 1964]

[highvolumetal]

Woman in the Dunes ,  Hiroshi Teshigahara , 1964.

[imamurashohei]

Woman of the Dunes (1964) dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara

[sesiondemadrugada]

Suna no onna (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964).

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

Films watched in 2019.

#120: An Autumn Afternoon (Yasujiro Ozu, 1962)

★★★★★★★★☆☆

[fieldcinema]

Suna no onna, 1963 Dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[cadwalladery]

Films seen in 2019

# 217 - Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964)

[la-cineaste]

EPISODE 002: Male Gaze Theory in Woman in the Dunes (1964)

Utilizing Laura Mulvey's theory on the male gaze in her most notable essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" to analyze the role of the peculiar and meek woman in Hiroshi Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes (1964). Rewatch the film in a different point of view. 

VIMEO: channel here

YOUTUBE: link here

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[mudwerks]

Kyôko Kishida and Ayako Wakao in Manji (1964)