Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate
| Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Yuzo Kawashima |
| Written by | Yuzo Kawashima, Shōhei Imamura, Keiichi Tanaka |
| Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
Release date |
|
Running time | 110 minutes[1] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate (幕末太陽傳 or 幕末太陽伝, Bakumatsu taiyōden) is a 1957 black-and-white Japanese film comedy directed by Yuzo Kawashima with a screenplay by Kawashima, Shōhei Imamura and Keiichi Tanaka. It was voted the fifth best Japanese film of all time in a poll of 140 Japanese critics and filmmakers conducted by the magazine Kinema Junpo in 1999.[2]
Plot
It is set during the last days of the Shogunate. Saheiji (played by comedian Frankie Sakai) seeks to outwit the inhabitants of a brothel in order to survive in straitened times.[3] A group of samurai meanwhile seek to destroy any foreigners that cross their path.
Notes
Parallels are drawn between the world of the samurai and the world of Kawashima's Japan. The hypocrisy surrounding prostitution, about to be outlawed in Japan at that time in 1950s Japan, the abuse of power, and financial greed at a time of crisis, are all assayed.[4]
Cast
- Frankie Sakai as Saheiji
- Yōko Minamida as Koharu
- Sachiko Hidari as Osome
- Yujiro Ishihara as Takasugi Shinsaku
- Nobuo Kaneko as Denbei, the owner of the Sagami-ya
- Masumi Okada as Kisuke
- Tomio Aoki as Chusuke
- Shōichi Ozawa as Kinzō, the book lender
- Izumi Ashizawa as Ohisa
- Akira Nishimura as Shinkō
- Taiji Tonoyama as Kurazō
- Hideaki Nitani as Shidō Monta (a.k.a. Inoue Kaoru)
- Akira Kobayashi as Kusaka Genzui
References
- ^ a b http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1957/cg002790.htm accessed 16 January 2009
- ^ "Hōga ōrutaimu besuto 100". My Cinema Theater. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
- ^ Masters of Cinema
- ^ Moviemail catalogue, April 2013, p.13
External links
- Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate at IMDb
- New remaster Ver(2011) http://www.nikkatsu.com/bakumatsu/english.html
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