Long saddled as simply an escapist comprise, Kurosawa’s unabashedly entertaining 1958 film gets an unexpectedly substantial Blu-ray upgrade.
Criterion could have done a bit more—as in, anything at all—to doll up Hideo Gosha’s tight little chambara.
“You tired of being stupid yet?” Sanjuro’s insult is praise: He loves you, too.
Reasons to love Yojimbo: “Ask the horny old sake brewer what he says to that!”
This deceptively lighthearted comic confection is Mikio Naruse’s first collaboration (of a total 17) with the great Japanese actress Hideko Takamine.
Akira Kurosawa’s searing condemnation of post-WWII corporate corruption takes direct aim at his prior work’s humanistic hopefulness.
Kurosawa’s critique of unchecked corporate power functions as an uncharacteristically despondent counterpoint to his trademark humanism.
Mikio Naruse’s Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro is primarily a vehicle for its very attractive stars.
Mikio Naruse’s Wife! Be Like a Rose! has the distinction of being the first Japanese talkie to receive a commercial U.S. release.
Even at a relatively brief 64 minutes, it feels as if Three Sisters explores a lifetime of heartache and tragedy.
Traveling Actors remains Mikio Naruse’s out-and-out funniest work, a comedy of numerous surface pleasures that unexpectedly deepens in retrospect.
Husband and Wife is one of director Mikio Naruse’s stranger films.
In tenor, The Approach of Autumn recalls the stark, light-touch despondency of Morris Engel’s Little Fugitive.
The Sword of Doom proves itself a film defined by its meticulously precise construction.
The first rule of Shogunate Japan is, “Don’t mess with The Sword of Doom.”