Samurai Saga (Japan, 1959)

A poet-warrior with an oversized nose (matched only by his great heart) loves a lady. But she sees him only as a friend, so he helps another man to woo her by giving him the poetry of his own heart.

You'd be forgiven if you've only seen Toshiro Mifune in Akira Kurosawa films, but Samurai Saga is directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and while it doesn't boast the same top quality as Kurosawa it certainly does serve as a good little samurai film. As always he carries the film but the story, while being much smaller scaled than we're used to see him in, is also interesting and engaging. 

I guess the next goal is to see Mifune in roles where he didn't play a samurai.

Genre: Action/Drama

The Ghost of Yotsuya (Japan, 1959)

This horror tale relates the consequences of a Japanese legend which tells of a man who has to betray his wife in order to achieve power.

Based on one of the oldest ghost stories in Japanese mythology, The Ghost of Yotsuya blends dreamlike  and beautiful visuals with restless spirits and nasty gore. It's director Nobuo Nakagawa's (Jigoku) take on the rich kaidan folktales, and it comes off as not just a spooky ghost story but a strong Edo period film as well. If you love Kwaidan (1964) and want more of that, The Ghost of Yotsuya will quench any thirst for malevolent spirits and vengeful phantoms from beyond the grave.

Genre: Horror

Hiroshima Mon Amour (France/Japan, 1959)

A French woman and a Japanese man have an affair while she is in Japan making a film about peace and the impact of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, The man, an architect, lost his family in the bombing. She recalls her lover during the war, a 23 year-old German soldier who later died. Despite the time they spend together, her attachment appears minimal and they go forward into the future.

Given that I have a seemingly insatiable fascination and interest in the atomic bombings during WWII, Hiroshima Mon Amour feels like one of the essential classics. The film pioneered the idea of having flashbacks to create a nonlinear storyline, and when we're taken back to the destruction and burning fields of Hiroshima it's done with stark realism and nothing sugar coated. It's also wild to see the place a couple of years after the explosion in scenes taking place around the wounded city. 

Genre: Drama/Romance

The Human Condition (Japan, 1959-1961)

A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.

The Human Condition is an epic movie trilogy based on a six-volume novel. Yes, six novels. Every film in the trilogy is around three hours long so it's a mammoth of a story. Unfortunately, I don't think that many people will find the patience to sit through a well over nine hour long trilogy, and that of course is a shame. Those who will though, are going to experience an unforgettable tale of pain, suffering and humiliation. All the horrors that war causes, and also how war changes people.  

Genre: Drama/History/War

Good Morning (Japan, 1959)

The film takes place in suburban Tokyo, and begins with a group of boy students going home. The boys are all attracted to a neighbor's house because they have a television set, where they can watch their favorite sumo wrestling matches. Two of them, Minoru and Isamu, pressure their mother into buying them a television set, but their mother refuses. So they decide on a silence strike against all adults.

Good Morning is director Yasijiro Ozu's (Tokyo Story) second film in color. In this one, he uses more comedy than usual, and it fits in really well with the story. Ozu shows a small community where gossip runs thick and old ladies spreading rumors like wildfire, and on top of it all there's two young boys who creates confusion among the neighbors by not speaking. Nothing too serious plot-wise but still another great film by a fantastic director. 

Genre: Drama

Floating Weeds (Japan, 1959)

A troupe of travelling players arrive at a small seaport in the south of Japan. Komajuro Arashi, the aging master of the troupe, goes to visit his old flame Oyoshi and their son Kiyoshi, even though Kiyoshi believes Komajuro is his uncle. The leading actress Sumiko is jealous and so, in order to humiliate the master, persuades the younger actress Kayo to seduce Kiyoshi.

Legendary director Yasujiro Ozu decided to make a remake of his own A Story of Floating Weeds (1934), and the fruit of that production was this fantastic film which is one of his most outstanding works. It's a well-told drama that slowly unfold itself, the kind of movie Ozu was a master of. With an exquisite color palette, Yasujiro Ozu portrays life in the most realistic and respectful way possible. There isn't much about the way Ozu shoots his films that hasn't been said, but one can at least join in on the vast amount of praise given to him. The restorations of his films absolutely makes the colors glow and give that Hitchcock technicolor (Eastmancolor here) look, and objects you didn't think could ever be important makes scenes much more rememberable. You're never as much aware of the sets as you are with Ozu, given the care he took when filming his actors.

A wonder of human drama and skill in moviemaking, Floating Weeds is the film you return to when it feels as if modern directors have forgotten how to make this kind of quality. 

Genre: Drama