Maiden Bridge (1936)

Tokyo University Press recently published “Propaganda Films in Colonial Taiwan: Research on Newly Discovered Films (植民地期台湾の映画)“. This is a book plus 2-DVD box set. Texts are academic research articles on propaganda films in Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule (1895 – 1945), particularly during the fifteen year war (1930 – 1945). DVDs contain rare films found in Taiwan in 2005, including entertainment films, animations, and documentaries during this era. Some of them are, as I understand, only existing copies of the particular titles. “Maiden Bridge” is one of the entertainment films included in the DVD.

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director (1975)

We sometimes forget that history is statistical approximation of collected experiences. And this process of collection is heavily biased by the political view, cultural understanding or artistic taste of each individual collector. When it comes to the life of a complex man, the collection tends to diverge, then we start to wonder how much of the story is actually reflection of each collector. Welcome to the world of “Citizen Mizoguchi”. This film may be a bit difficult to follow, if you are not familiar with the events described in a series of interviews. For example, it is not clearly laid …

Sakura Tai Chiru (1988)

Kaneto Shindo, one of the prominent filmmaker and writer, passed away on May 29, 2012. He was 100 years old. He was the last to live through the golden age of Japanese cinema and his film career spans over almost 8 decades. He has directed numerous masterpieces such as “The Naked Island” or “Children of Hiroshima“, to name the few. He also engaged in documenting some (Japanese-cinema related) historical events. This documentary is at the crossroad of his interests; it is about the troop of independent film actors and also about tragic event in Hiroshima, Shindo’s hometown. Sakura-tai (Cherry-Blossom Troop) …