A double feature of Tai Kato films, closing CJS's summer film series. Co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation.
BRAVE RECORDS OF THE SANADA CLAN
Screening Time: 5pm
In a comedic and fantastical style, the legendary folklore characters of Sasuke Sarutobi and the Sanada Ten Braves are portrayed in the historical siege of Osaka Castle in 1615, Edo Period Japan. These famed ninjas who were rumored to have served Sanada Yukimura in defending the Toyotomi clan against the Tokugawa shogunate, instead serve to impart a satirical tone and social commentary on the student movements in Japan of the early 1960s.
Directed by Tai Kato, 1963, 90 min.
BLOOD OF REVENGEScreening Time: 8pm
The year is 1907, Osaka is ready to invest in its future as an international trade port. Asajiro (Koji Tsurata) and his yakuza clan attempt to make the leap to legitimacy as a civil construction business, but past connections and old enemies lead him back to violence off the straightened path. A pairing of Kato’s forte in directing yakuza films with the iconic performance of Tsuruta (the genre’s first star) as the chivalric underworld hero makes this film a cut well above the standard.
Directed by Tai Kato, 1965, 91 min.
