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Early Wakamatsu’s Work Discovered

Kouji Wakamatsu (CATERPILLAR(2010), UNITED RED ARMY(2008)) died last October by car accident. His unfortunate, premature death has created the huge void in Japanese cinema industry today. One of his earliest works, OSORUBEKI ISAN, HADAKA NO KAGE (恐るべき遺産　裸の影, 1963) was discovered recently and screened at SHINDO KANETO FILM FESTIVAL last week. Its premiere was 50 years ago and it has never been screened since. The film, according to Chunichi Shinbun, is about a girl in Hiroshima, who lost her parents in atomic bomb and herself was exposed to nuclear radiation. The trailer shows the small segment from the film, which indicates …

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'BOBTAIL' REVIEW / JAPANESE FILMS

The Hoodlum Soldier (1965)

It’s the year 1943, near the northern border of Manchuria. The infantry division of Japanese Army stationed in the midst of this barren land, quietly waiting for Soviet invasion (which actually took place in August 1945). Arita, a wary 3-year private, was dodging any hint of death as much as possible. He hates Army. He hates Soldiers. He had intentionally franked the promotion exam, so that he wouldn’t have to order something horrible to the other soldiers. All he wanted was to go home. However, he was not a weakling nor an idealist. He was much more experienced, cunning and …

 
'BOBTAIL' REVIEW / JAPANESE FILMS

Kaze Tachinu (2013)

We all know that Hayao Miyazaki is deeply obsessed with airplanes, blimps, or any machinery of aviation. This obsession reveals itself as various flying objects in his works. Sometimes, they are merely products of his imagination, such as Möwe in NAISICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND, the castle in HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, or Kiki’s broom in KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE, but in many cases, his obsession with early aviation history manifests, as amphibians and speed planes in PORCO ROSSO. He likes to draw large biplanes, triplanes, or any other exotic airplanes from the first half of 20th century, paying extra …