2018 • Japan • Directed by Tomu Uchida
Praised by Japanese film critics and much admired by his contemporaries, Tomu Uchida nonetheless remains a little-known in the west. His 1955 masterpiece Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is an excellent entry point for the newcomer. Set during the Edo period, Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is a tragicomic road movie of sorts, following a samurai, his two servants - including spear-carrier Genpachi (Chiezô Kataoka) - and the various people they meet on their journey, including a policeman in pursuit of a thief, a young child and a woman who is to be sold into prostitution. Winner of a prestigious Blue Ribbon Award for supporting actor, Daisuke Katô, Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is a film deserving of much wider international recognition.
Up Next in Monochrome Madness
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Lady Morgan's Vengeance
1965 • Italy • Directed by Massimo Pupillo
Gaslighting abounds in Massimo Pupillo’s Lady Morgan’s Vengeance – a delicate tale of romance and mystery, with a sprinkling of sadism and the supernatural – as newlywed Sir Harold Morgan (Paul Muller, Nightmare Castle) attempts to destroy his new bride...
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The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired ...
1968 • Japan • Directed by Noriaki Yuasa
What do you get when Noriaki Yuasa, director of Daiei Studios’ much-beloved Gamera series, makes a monochrome film adaptation of the works of horror manga pioneer Kazuo Umezu (The Drifting Classroom)? The answer is 1968’s The Snake Girl and the Silver-Hai...
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Red Angel
1966 • Japan • Directed by Yasuzô Masumura
Directed by Yasuzo Masumura (Giants and Toys, Blind Beast), Red Angel takes an unflinching look at the horror and futility of war through the eyes of a dedicated and selfless young military nurse.
When Sakura Nishi is dispatched in 1939 to a ramshack...
