Japan Society Concludes "The Double-Edged Sword" Chambara Film Series on May 14th Source: Japan Society Special Thanks to Tahmid Mannan
New York – The final screening of Japan Society`s latest Monthly Classics film series "The Double-Edged Sword: The Chambara Films of Shintaro Katsu & Raizo Ichikawa" has arrived! Curated by film expert and author Chris D. (Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film), the series pays tribute to two Japanese screen legends in their most respected, representative and stylish chambara (sword fighting) films. On Friday, May 14, the series finishes off with a clang, screening Kazuo Ikehiro’s THE LONE STALKER (6:30 PM) and Kenji Misumi’s THE DEVIL`S TEMPLE (8:30 PM), two rare and wonderfully unique films for the series’ stars: Raizo Ichikawa and Shintaro Katsu. Truly one of Ichikawa’s most impressive performances (in fact one of his last, released one year before his death in 1969), his turn as “Lone Wolf” Isazo in THE LONE STALKER enriches this show-stopping matatabi (samurai gambler genre) film with the touching loneliness of the wandering warrior like no other. THE DEVIL`S TEMPLE is a lost masterpiece so forgotten amid its creators’ hulking filmographies we can’t be sure it’s an international premiere, but it may as well be. Relatively contemplative for a Misumi chambara, this film focuses on a religious/romantic conflict between a Buddhist monk, a fallen samurai and the two women who love him. Tickets are $11/$7 Japan Society members, students and seniors. Buy tickets online or please call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.
THE LONE STALKER aka LONE WOLF ISAZO (Hitori Okami) Friday, May 14, 2010, 6:30 PM 1968, 83 min., 16mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Kazuo Ikehiro. With Raizo Ichikawa, Isamu Nagato, Mayumi Ogawa. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation with permission from Kadokawa Pictures. The epitome of the matatabi (samurai gambler) movie, Lone Wolf Isazo ranks as one of Raizo Ichikawa’s most spectacular performances. Employing flashbacks within flashbacks and a brooding romantic style poised somewhere between Budd Boetticher and early Sergio Leone, director Kazuo Ikehiro charts Isazo’s descent from chivalrous naïf to vengeance-obsessed cynical wanderer, giving a definitive chronicle of the loneliness of the long-distance wanderer. THE DEVIL`S TEMPLE (Oni no Sumu Yakata) Friday, May 14, 2010, 8:30 PM 1969, 76 min., 35 mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Kenji Misumi. With Shintaro Katsu. Print courtesy of Kadokawa Pictures. In this little known Misumi masterpiece, an abandoned temple nestled in the mountains is the scene of a fateful encounter between a Buddhist monk, two women in love with the same man, and a fallen samurai (Katsu, at his most ferocious). As destinies collide: it appears that not just the lives of the quartet are at stake, but their very souls. Hell awaits!
About Japan Society
The Japan Society Film Program offers a diverse selection of Japanese films, from classics to contemporary independent productions. Its aim is to entertain, educate and support activities in the Society`s Arts & Culture programs. The Film Program has included retrospectives of great directors, thematic series and many U.S. premieres. Some original film series curated by Japan Society have traveled to other U.S. venues in tours organized by the Film Program. Since 2007, the Program has presented the annual summer JAPAN CUTS Festival of New Japanese Film in collaboration with the New York Asian Film Festival. The Monthly Classics series are yearly events inviting guest curators to organize film series with once-a-month screenings. Established in 1907, Japan Society has evolved into North America`s major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Language, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia. Japan Society 2009-10 Film Programs are generously supported by the Lila Wallace-Reader`s Digest Endowment Fund. Additional support is provided by the Globus Family, Yoshiko and Tim Schilt, David S. Howe, Dr. Tatsuji Namba, Joshua S. Levine and Nozomi Terao, and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency.
About Chris D.
Chris D. (aka Chris Desjardins) is the author of Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film (2005, I.B. Tauris), which features essays and interviews with Japanese genre film directors from the `60s to the `90s. He recently completed work on two forthcoming books: an exhaustive study of yakuza films titled Gun And Sword – An Encyclopedia of Japanese Gangster Films 1955-1980, and an anthology of prose and poetry entitled A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die (New Texture Books, due Dec. 9). Chris worked as a film programmer at The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles 1999-2005 and was the main programmer of the Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre from 2006-09. Chris was also a singer/songwriter/producer for The Flesh Eaters and Divine Horsemen between 1978 and 2003. As an actor, Chris has appeared in BORDER RADIO (1987), NO WAY OUT (1987), TWEEKED (1999) and DOUBLE DECEPTION (2001). I PASS FOR HUMAN (2004) was his feature film debut behind the camera. Japan Society`s presentation of The Double-Edged Sword is an updated edition of a series he presented in Los Angeles in 2002.